Designing Equitable Futures

This capstone unit synthesizes lessons on the DEI reckoning, inclusive design practices, independent thinking, and futures work to equip learners to design just and resilient creative solutions. Students will analyze past failures, model decolonized future scenarios, and develop future-proof inclusive design strategies they can defend to stakeholders.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze historical and contemporary DEI failures and their impacts on design practice, identifying at least three systemic causes and related design implications
• Evaluate inclusive-design and decolonization frameworks, comparing strengths and limitations and recommending which elements should inform future-facing projects
• Apply futures-modeling techniques to create two plausible, documented scenarios that demonstrate future-proof inclusive-design strategies addressing accessibility, equity, and cultural representation
• Demonstrate effective stakeholder communication by producing and presenting a concise design brief that defends recommended equitable design actions and anticipates corporate and generational influences