Abstract

Currently, our planet is facing a severe environmental crisis boosted by the worrying levels of production and consumption. This reality may accelerate the process of social cleavage, in which the poor become poorer, whereas the rich become richer. This scenario leads to an area in which design can intervene, helping the planet and society toward a sustainable future (as sustainability involves complicated relations between different aspects of life, like society, culture, environment, economy, and others). This study was intended to develop a methodological approach, based on principles of design for social innovation, that could empower communities to improve their skills and living conditions. The case study was developed at a social workshop, in which a one-year training program was conducted with eight unemployed trainees, a Design Studio FEUP’s team—a fellow researcher and a master’s student—and one of ADEIMA’s members—a psychologist. The design-led curriculum was developed by Design Studio FEUP’s team. The methodological approach presents a new perspective in which designers and their tools sustain social innovation and proposes a collaboration model with the university to produce ecological products designed by master’s students. This collaboration also presents considerable potential in that it creates an opportunity for master’s students and trainees to work together. As a result, after the program, the trainees revealed an enhancement of their skills and knowledge that can help them become more autonomous—developing their own solutions to problems—or searching for a job.