Sustainable futures by design : enriching the balance between engagement processes and outcomes

Abstract

Design projects by engagement develop innovative responses to the needs of communities seeking direction
toward sustainable futures. The quality of an engagement partnership between community and university plays
an important role in the efficacy of this response. Quality partnerships draw on the knowledge and capacities of
all partners, and also contribute something to all partners. Thus an appropriate balance is needed between
engagement processes and outcomes.
In design engagement projects, there is danger of a pattern forming whereby communities provide opportunity,
resources and consultation only at the commencement of a project, with the university providing completed
designs at the end. While design academics are primarily interested in the processes of student learning (Smith,
Sanders, Demirbilek and Scott 2005), communities understandably prioritise project outcomes, and there is
potential for the design teams (students) to feel uncertain about their role. In this scenario, community partners’
involvement in the design engagement process need to be enriched in order to better produce innovative and
responsive outcomes, both in terms of their sustainable futures, and the pedagogical needs of the university
partners.
Queensland University of Technology Schools of Design and Urban Development are undertaking a series of
engagement projects designing for sustainable futures in response to the needs of communities in sensitive
Queensland regional environments. Our projects perform an ‘integrative and innovative role in the cultivation of
equitable and sustainable regions’ (Forrant and Silka 2006), with senior students developing innovative design
outcomes focused on sustainable economic, social, cultural and environmental futures.
In this paper, we examine the balance between design engagement processes and outcomes through the
trajectory of these projects. Lessons learned from past projects informed the planning of our current ‘Port of
Bundaberg’ project, in which we prioritise enrichment of the process-outcomes balance. It builds on projects at
nearby coastal Poona and Bargara, having the potential to develop existing and new quality partnerships and
further our contribution to the sustainable future of the globally significant Great Sandy Marine Park.
In responding to the needs of communities seeking direction toward sustainable futures, student designers
require a rich understanding of the community and region. We find this is best achieved through an ongoing
conversational process between the differing forms of knowledge and capacities embedded within both
community (Armstrong 1999, Thomas 2006) and university partners. As our projects demonstrate, innovative
design for sustainable futures needs quality partnerships based on an enriched balance between engagement
processes and outcomes.