LANDesign®HUB Teaching, Research, Third Mission

The methodological approach of the LANDesign research laboratory builds off from the osmosis between research and teaching, and from their synergic involvement with placement activities. Students are prepared to develop an attitude towards Art and Science, cultivated in their indissoluble dual theoretical-technical nature, aimed at sustainable regeneration of urban environment, as well as of design objects, social mores and social relations. Students’ attitudes are deployed into projects of recovery of external areas abandoned to neglect converted into urban gardens (land design), projects of development of sustainable products (ethical design), projects for fostering responsible citizenship, with particular reference to nutrition-care and Self- and Environment-care (food-pharma design). This contribution, after presenting an overview of the Pharma-Food Design 2023 Course projects whereby students have designed and prototyped products and services for health and well-being in the medical-care and healthcare fields, briefly illustrates the methodological rules underlying the Lab's research activities, synthesized by the dual e-duco/pro-duco motto, and describes the ERGO project. The ERGO project is a format combining a travelling exhibit for placement, a hub collecting and a sorting terminal for ideas, contacts, opportunities and instances of constructive critical thinking in art, science and industry, and a laboratory for project evaluation and for critical discussion of criteria and methods for selecting projects deemed promising for the value achievable in terms of educational regeneration, productive regeneration and sustainable regeneration.