Innovation with Sustainability Design Thinking for Smart Cities & Communities

LIVE. WORK. PLAY.

I was pushed to re-design my summer teaching. It was an opportunity to explore a new area. What I’ve done is adopted our past course in Smart Cities & Communities aka SCC which originally had a business case basis to a new course (Smart Cities & Communities: Sustainability Design Thinking) where which takes the design thinking principles & process from my previous course (Sustainability Design Thinking aka SDT) with application to opportunities today, tomorrow and in the next generation.

The basic premise is to design interactive environments and surroundings in a what if? scenario where we practice wishful thinking and put ideas on the path to realization, at least conceptually & visually. The one phrase from the earlier SCC course that I remember is “a system of systems” where the connectivity, awareness and sensitivity to response are the main features of being called “smart.” Where the new SCC course will be an upgrade from the past course perspective is in the use of human-centered feature design specification to enhance user experience through emotional intelligence, creativity and storytelling (three core YCISL elements).

1. Emotional Intelligence. What if a smart system offered and evolved with a person? What if we recognize that human awareness and interaction changes with place, time and circumstance? What if we could leverage intrinsic motivation as a user UI/UX layer in the architecture of our smart system?
2. Creativity. Our smart system should energize the divergent-convergent thinking cycle involved in smart interaction, guidance and feedback. We can use creativity to promote a person’s appetite for a growth mindset. Creativity, especially in the fast thinking mode, can be used to sustain positivity as a promissory attractant to smart systems.
3. Storytelling. A smart system could offer one or more longitudinal temporal pathways through storytelling. Word choice may be important, and so might imagery. One question is whether the story has to be based on reality, or could it be augmented or virtual? Does it matter to you and what we deem acceptable to attain our human behavior change goals?

With the above thoughts, we will conceptualize smart cities and communities innovations as a platform to enhance design thinking skills – hopefully building a memorable starting point through caring for sustainability. The value proposition of this course is the life skill of design thinking, and spreading the YCISL method through attending to where we live, work and play.