With the concept of Pluriversal Design, Arturo Escobar proposes to look at design not as a universal activity but as one closely influenced by the presence of different centers, contexts, cultures, histories, positions of power, and relationships. The same applies to design education, which can no longer be considered an action independent of context. Therefore, given the need to start again from a pluriversal conception of design education, this research investigates how the Italian context finds itself in its relationship with external contexts. The research, starting from a situated and feminist perspective, critically observes how, in the Italian context, design educational practice today focuses mainly on the technical teaching of skills that respond to market demands. This approach to education divulges an illusorily and dangerous apolitical representation of the design discipline, which tends toward objectivity through absolute, standardized methods, with the lack of a cultural work of critique and self-criticism toward the discipline itself and its responsibilities. The research, therefore, proposes a possible transformation of the design educational context in Italy that starts from a revision of the representation of design from the more philosophical to the more concrete meaning of the term: – critique of the design representation; – critique of the classroom representation; – representation as a critical pedagogical medium. An education that thus looks to the development of critical thinking as a necessary tool for facing choices and decisions, in the personal and professional sphere beyond graduation, in a more ethical and, above all, conscious way.
Valeria Piras is a Phd candidate in Design at the University of Genoa, Department of Architecture and Design. Her research aims to look at design pedagogy in the Italian context from a situated and political perspective.