Reframing Design Education in Indonesia Through Co-Creation

Design education in Indonesia has long emphasized technical proficiency and market-oriented outcomes, leaving limited space for critical reflection, creative exploration, and social engagement. This research aims to explore how participatory design (PD) can be embedded into design education to reframe its direction toward more socially responsive practices. Using an action research framework with a co-design method, a pilot project was conducted within the Creative Experiment course at Universitas Sebelas Maret, where students collaborated with community members to address the redesign of a public interior of a football field. Through classroom discussions, workshops, and field observations, students directly engaged with stakeholders and contextual issues, allowing them to experience co-creation and interdisciplinary collaboration. The findings show that PD enabled students to better understand social and environmental realities, expand their view of design beyond consumerist production, and develop collaborative problem-solving skills. These outcomes suggest that integrating participatory and community-based approaches into studio courses encourages a more critical, empathetic, and contextually grounded model of design education. Despite challenges such as time constraints, bureaucratic barriers, and uneven student readiness, the study demonstrates the potential of participatory approaches to strengthen design education in Indonesia and nurture socially conscious designers.