On Sep 12th, an international symposium on Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability (DESIS) was held at School of Design, which was co-sponsored by our university and DESIS-China. First of all, Prof. Guo Weimin, Dean of School of Design, addressed the opening speech, welcoming the invited guests to give lectures in their respective research fields. Dr. Gong Miaosen from the School of Design chaired the symposium.
Prof. Ezio Manzini, the main speaker of this symposium from Milan Polytechnic University, elaborated his opinions around the topic of sustainable development between urban and rural areas with examples in his workshops. Prof. Lou Yongqi, Deputy Dean of College of Design and Innovation from Tongji University, talked about his ideas of the development between urban and rural areas in China in combination with his own project for years, namely 100 Innovation Hubs in Rural China.
Prof. Zhang Linghao, Deputy Dean of School of Design, expounded the social dimension of sustainable development based on the conception of system combination. As the speaker of the symposium, he made an emphasis on the spiritual dimension of quality of life as well as the material one, the integration of spiritual culture as well as the material resources.
In addition, representative teachers and students of colleges and universities from Italy, Germany, Columbia, China and many other countries and regions also made brilliant speeches and discussions.
Vice-president Prof. Wang Wu attended the symposium and had a cordial talk with the guests. Since its establishment in March 2000, DESIS-China has been continuously exerting influences to design education round the world, involving China and exploring social development with its innovative concept of sustainability.
On the occasion of 50th anniversary of School of Design, holding such symposium has dual meaning. On the one hand, the present symposium provided a valuable opportunity for exchanging opinions between our school and counterparts in this field both home and abroad. On the other hand, it s also a reflection of a step for the school to take on the way of education design in research.
This activity is one of the Anniversary Series of celebration, and one of the series activities under the framework of DESIS-China in September as well. It is reported that the recent activities also include Shanghai International Conference 2010 Cumulus --- the sub-theme conference of DESIS, UN-Pavilion DESIS Forum, DESIS League of Nations Conference, DESIS10@Wuxi Workshops, etc.
