Design education for sustainability: a case study for an inclusive approach to design in India

People around the globe recognise that the current development trends are clearly unsustainable and that education can be seen as a critical tool for advancing our society towards sustainability. This paper showcases a case study for ‘Envisioning a sustainable Guwahati Railway Station Complex of the future’ undertaken by students of the Department of Design at the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati. The paper highlights the importance of participatory design, systems thinking and collective group learning when engaged in the design of complex public systems such as a railway station. It makes the case for design education for sustainability in the rapidly urbanising Indian context and concludes that design education should include approaches and methods that sensitise the students to the parameters of sustainability which are contextually relevant, inclusive and socially acceptable.