trends and future of sustainable development - TransEco

DESIGNING SUSTAINABILITY TOGETHER -DISCIPLINARY COMPETENCES IN TRANSDISCIPLINARYKNOWLEDGE BUILDINGTatu MarttilaAalto University, School of Art and Design, FinlandABSTRACT – Sustainable development requires a trans-scientific approach. Similarly, sustainabledesign requires insight from several professions, and systemic understanding on stakeholders andtheir interests. This article explores previous research on transdisciplinarity, and new data that isgathered with questionnaires from a multidisciplinary master's study programme. It is positioningfurther research and development in design teamwork between multiple disciplines, and it aims toidentify the necessary approaches to collaborative and transdisciplinary knowledge building forsustainability.1. Introduction and BackgroundSustainability can be generally understood as an approach to design and development "that focuses onenvironmental, social, and financial factors" and is about "balancing" and "mediation" between differentideas and concepts (Shedroff 2009, 5). Research, and similarly design on sustainability require theparticipation of different experts from several disciplinary fields, and therefore must also have a transscientificcharacter (Tukker et al. 2008). Transdisciplinarity has become "a label for collaborativeresearch" in sustainable design, crossing over disciplinary boundaries and sectors of society (Bruun et al.2005), and gradually deepening the integration in communication and knowledge between theparticipants (Hukkinen 2008).This article looks into how students in design, engineering, architecture, real estate and economicsapproach sustainability, and explores the differences between disciplinary approaches andunderstanding. It aims to position the approach to multi-professional design collaboration better, andstudies the emphases that should be used in such process from the scope of sustainability, but also fromthe perspective of transdisciplinarity. Data is gathered with questionnaires from students in a newmultidisciplinary master's programme called Creative Sustainability (CS), which started in Fall 2010 inAalto University. The programme's curriculum has strong emphasis on collaborative courses and reallifecases, and as such it represents a good example to study transdisciplinary knowledge building.263