AFRICA-DESIGN COLLABORATIVE
@ The University of Michigan
The A F R I C A - D E S I G N COLLABORATIVE is a collection of projects at the University of Michigan in collaboration with other institutions, primarily Africa-based . We support the Design Society's AFRICA-DESIGN initiative to build a network of design researchers, educators, and practitioners based in African countries with particular emphasis on design for sustainable and equitable development; and to link them with colleagues in the worldwide design community. Our work builds on a belief in mutual learning opportunities on the challenges that we all share as articulated in the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The AFRICA-DESIGN COLLABORATIVE @UM team addresses research and education projects
Scoping scholarly work
Scoping funding sources
Establishing research and education connections
Conducting design research and education projects
The Optimal DEsign Laboratory (ODE) has operated at the University of Michigan for 40+ years dedicated to understanding and improving the design process for products, systems, and services. Motivated by the decision-making paradigm in design science, ODE research has brought together work from engineering, industrial design, açrchitecture, psychology, business and computer science to create quantitative and qualitative models for developing design alternatives and seeking the best – the optimal design.
Research in the Global Design Laboratory is aimed at improving design processes to help teams make better decisions when facing complex system design tasks. As these systems grow in scale and ubiquity, our research seeks to improve the ability of designers to create high-performing systems with positive social impacts. We study how engineering teams can incorporate an understanding of human behavior into formal complex system design processes. From aerospace to developing economies, we seek to ground complex system modeling techniques in real-world phenomena uncovered through rigorous qualitative inquiry. Through the study of actual organizations and product ecosystems, we create new design methods which take how people behave into account.
Workshop on Design Science
In March 2024 we held a workshop on Design Science and AI at Carnegie Mellon University Africa in Kigali, Rwanda, which was a very rewarding event endorsed by the US National Academy of Engineering.
Projects
Designing Integrated Natural Resource Conservation and Development (INRCD) Projects
The UN Sustainable Development Goals include conservation of land, water, and other resources as a top priority for sustainable development. Conservation and development seem to be conflicting goals, especially as traditional conservation initiatives adopt a non-participatory “fines and fences” approach.
The World Wide Fund for Nature first introduced the concept of integrated conservation and development projects (ICDP) in the mid 1980s, aspiring to combine social development and conservation goals through the use of socio-economic investment tools. Theory, tools and methods have evolved considerably since the 1980s, creating opportunities to revisit and expand existing approaches to ICDP design. Integrated Natural Resource Managment (INRM) employs a strong systems thinking approach suitable for quantitative modeling and optimization. We are surveying the state of the art for design-related ICDP and INRM research as recorded in scholarly articles with particular emphasis on Africa and optimization modeling.
Community Crop Yields, Irrigation, and Microgrid System Optimization
We are building a system optimization model for a small rural community. The system consists of three subsystems, crops, pumping, and microgrid. The system objective is to maximize a social benefit, such as profit, for the community. The subsystem modeling utilizes extensive resources available in the open literature modified to fit in the particular implementation.
Scholarly Design Research for Sustainable Development in Africa: State of the Art Review
To understand better how design research aligns with the SDGs in Africa, we are mapping out the relevant design research based on the extant published scientific literature. We produced a paper that presents the peer-reviewed scientific literature review, identifies research trends and patterns of collaboration between researchers. We found differences in topic representation and collaboration trends between African-based and non-African based researchers. Energy, agriculture, and water are the most researched topics in the design for sustainable development in Africa with some differences existing in research priorities between African and non-African researchers. We also found that about half of the papers had a co-author affiliated to an African institution. This author collaboration was not equal across topics and appears more in certain research communities than others.
Funding Design and Innovation for Sustainable Development in Africa: Review of Sources
Funding for design impacts the practical ability to address relevant problems. Using public sources, we explored funding aimed at design and business innovations for sustainable development in Africa provided by NGOs, governments, and multinational organizations. We focused on agriculture, energy, sanitation, and urban development, with successful or promising project examples. We concluded that country location, population or economic size do not drive government R&D spending; agricultural R&D funding is below targets; and NGOs combine funding with education and skill-building opportunities
Student Projects: Design for Sustainable Development
Design is a powerfull way to have a positive impact on sustainable development. Student projects grounded on design thinking and design science is an effective hands-on way to learn about the practice of SDGs. We pursue student project collaborations opportunities, possibly across different countries, in structured capstone or independent study projects.
Contact
All of the AFRICA-DESIGN@UM projects are ongoing efforts. We welcome feedback and opportunities for collaboration.
For further information and inquiries, please contact: africa-design at umich.edu.