Brave new world - meeting the needs of society in the twenty first century, the role of design and design education

As we are about to enter both a new century and new millennium the human race appears to be engaging in universal stock taking. Auditing the past seems to be a means of coming to terms with the future. Design is not exempt from these phenomena. Both designers and design educationists are reflecting on the achievements of the current century and forecasting possible challenges facing the design profession as we move into the next. I and colleagues in Industrial/Product Design have done our fair share of reflection spurred on not least by an institutional review and re-validation of part of the University's design provision. The reflection and forecasting process has been extremely beneficial and has had an impact on curriculum development. Our considerations have tried to take on board some of the sociological and technological issues which will drive design in the 21st century. This paper is based on debate of the teaching team around the issues of : design and ageing; design and disability; design and the 24 hour society; design and transportation; design and the environment.