POTDesign: A Proposal to Educate on Inclusive, Responsible, Circular, and Sustainable Design

This article presents the work carried out by the University of Bologna within the framework of the POTDesign: contact/share project, which integrates Responsible Design, Circular Design, and Design for Sustainability into educational pathways. Building on the growing environmental awareness and attention to social issues among younger generations, the project engaged secondary school and university students in the development of relevant and meaningful design considerations. The approach adopted promoted a broad concept of innovation encompassing community, inclusion, responsibility, sustainability, and circularity, with the aim of fostering concrete solutions for new forms of cooperation, sharing, and well-being. In response to the challenges posed by the social isolation resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, the project led to the development of 11 initiatives, designed to establish resilient communities sensitive to social and environmental needs.