Seeing the future through aesthetics : sustainable design strategy to tackle poverty in Egypt

Tackling poverty in Egypt is a challenging task, since poverty is highly complex and dynamic and cuts across different disciplines. Dealing with such real-world problems requires a comprehensive awareness of their distinctive characteristics, in order to avoid falling into the trap of oversimplification. When it comes to the role of design, a considerable body of literature has referred to traditional design thinking ‒ conceived as first generation methods ‒ as an obstacle that failed to let designers deal with such complex problems. The traditional discourse of design, which focuses on formal aspects and usually deals with a specific problem, where all the necessary information is provided for the designer (e.g. designing a chair, a table or a lamp for a special purpose), tends to isolate the design process from the socio-cultural context. But if designers are going to be involved in solving complex – or, using Rittel’s term, “wicked” – problems, they have to prepare themselves for a new mission that is rooted in the society in and for which they are working. In this respect, the main objective of my thesis is to show the potential of design thinking (after upgrading it) as a reliable discipline for tackling poverty in Egypt, collaboratively with other disciplines and organizations that seek sustainable development. This research is an attempt to explore the role of design in the development discourse and the kind of responsibility designers must take in order to tackle poverty in Egypt. The thesis also addresses the issue of empowering designers to accomplish their new tasks effectively by exploring additional skills and methods they should learn to change their way of thinking and acting...