HCII2020 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Peter Scupelli is presenting a paper titled “Teaching to Find Design Opportunities for Behavior Change Through Causal Layered Analysis” for the Human-Computer Interaction International Conference held in Copenhagen, Denmark July 16-24, 2020.

Abstract. Change is exponential. Products and services are developed faster, hold a shorter shelf-life disrupted by new offerings, and exist in the wider environment with global challenges emerging such as climate change and sustainability. Increasingly design challenges are shifting from simple products and services creation for companies and organizations to deliver to much larger scale problems beyond the control of a single organization. Two planetary level the challenges for year 2030 include reducing carbon emissions by at least 50% to avoid the catastrophic effects of climate (2018 IPCC 1.5C report) and meeting United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Thus, design for the 21st century requires different skills; design educators are challenged to teach new methods moving past the limitations of human-centered design thinking. The Design Thinking process as popularized by IDEO/Stanford d.school identifies human-centered design opportunities through five steps: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. The design thinking focus is human-centeredness and optimized to develop products and services. Unfortunately, in the Anthropocene era, the larger scale problems such as climate change and sustainable development require a broader focus that includes all life forms and not just the customer of a product or service. In this paper, I discuss how futures thinking methods from the the field of Futures Studies can augment design thinking methods to overcome some human-centeredness limitations. In particular, I describe how Causal Layered Analysis developed by Sohail Inayatullah can augment design challenge linked to rapid-decarbonization. I provide case studies from three design courses taught to both undergraduate and graduate design students.