Week 9 Reflection

I really enjoyed the Tony Fry reading this week. The idea that design is not only structured by the designer, but also structures the designer was very eye-opening. It brought emphasis to the importance of metacognition when designing. Furthermore, he seemed to argue the importance of embracing the whole system and understanding what area the respective design is having an impact. I believe that this method of thinking is especially important when designing sustainability. This is because, essentially, our goal is to change the behaviors of individual’s to be more environmentally friendly. However, as stated in the reading, habitus needs to be considered when designing to change behavior. This is because culture and environment all have impact on our behavior, and so not all designs can equally change behavior amongst different groups of people.

I believe that this philosophy was shown in Troy Hammond’s talk. He discusses the challenges he faced when working with companies in becoming more sustainable. In order to convince companies to take this action, he first had to consider their perspectives and the reasons that they would not be interested in such projects. In the video, he identifies these obstacles as Time, Expertise, and Dollars. What Troy Hammond has done in this case was to explore the thoughts and views that his clients had to better understand their goals. This way, he could offer a service or design that would align with these goals. He has successfully integrated the design mindset Tony Fry was talking about, and is now applying it in his institution. I believe that for CMU to be a leader in sustainability goals, this is the route that people should follow.