Pluralising Evaluations of Design Impact: A Research and Educational Agenda for Design Culture Studies

This paper proposes a research and educational agenda for Design Culture Studies (DCS) aimed at pluralising the evaluation of design impact. Existing methods predominantly focus on economic and quantitative metrics, often tied to a single discipline, which fail to capture the diverse ways in which people consider how design can – and should – affect the world. Addressing this gap requires qualitative frameworks capable of embracing multiple perspectives, integrating evaluative languages, and fostering social sustainability and cultural inclusivity.