Master of Culture and Arts | Design for the Planet

A master's degree in creating sustainable futures through design thinking

Design thinking provides a means to search for opportunities and create improvements toward sustainable futures. The interdisciplinary master’s degree programme in Design for the Planet is based on the principles of ​meaningful, sufficiency, and place-based design. It emphasizes creative design thinking processes with human empathy for each other around real-world problems.

The degree programme is conducted online and as a part-time learning opportunity. Applicants are required to have at least two years of full-time work experience in a related field and an appropriate bachelor’s degree.

What do the studies include?

The studies include teacher-led online sessions, project-based online work in student teams, and independent student work. Virtual sessions are conducted approximately every two weeks during the autumn and spring semesters for the compulsory core and central complementary studies. The programme applies the flipped-classroom approach, where prework is required before online meetings and used for discussion and tasks.

The basis for development is understanding the main challenges of the state of the planet and how to follow the evolving sustainability rules, regulations, and reporting requirements. Design thinking includes systems understanding and evidence-based, human-driven information acquisition for holistic understanding and multidisciplinary development. Visual information forms an integrated part of the communication and development tools and result-building. 

The development context is studied both at the strategic level and with concern about the place-based, concrete situation. The strategic approach is not left at the abstract level, but concrete activities are sought as results, often through the means of co-design.

The thesis work includes presentations in the online thesis seminars and joint online meetings. Individual, online mentoring from the teaching staff is available as an integral part of the thesis project.