Doctor Honoris Causa

Professor Carlo Vezzoli

One year after Professor Carlo Vezzoli was awarded a Doctorate Honoris Causa, we repropose the award ceremony and an extract from his Lectio Magistralis.

Carlo Vezzoli, Full Professor of Design, has been researching and teaching design for sustainability at the Department and School of Design of Politecnico di Milano for more than 20 years. He teaches courses in "Product Design for Environmental Sustainability" and "System Design for Sustainability" and is head of the LeNSlab Polimi research lab on Design and System Innovation for Sustainability (DIS).

Since 2007 he has been the founder of LeNS - Learning Network on Sustainability - a worldwide network of nearly 150 universities on all continents, with the aim of disseminating design for sustainability from a multi-polar and open access perspective. He has written several books, published in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese in addition to Italian, including recently "Designing Sustainability for All".

His strong involvement in research on design for environmental sustainability, social inclusion, and economic prosperity, as well as his commitment to an accessible dissemination of this fundamental discipline to all, has allowed Professor Vezzoli to be awarded a Doctorate Ad Honorem at the Universidade Federal do Paraná, receiving the title of Doctor Honoris Causa.

In his award speech, Carlo Vezzoli introduces the contemporary picture of the environmental and social crisis and the role that design can play, stating:

«We must be aware of the urgency and dimension of change, that is, the need for systemic discontinuity, and equally aware of the key role of design. We are designers, so there is a clear fundamental call to action for the design world.»

The university, precisely in this context, plays a key role in the transition to sustainable development, both on the research front and in the dissemination of new knowledge through building a new generation of designers.

Vezzoli concludes his speech by urging all of us to make a difference:

«As designers we have both the knowledge base and the operational tools to imagine and promote sustainable solutions, that is, we have not only the responsibility but also the privilege of being able to do a lot. But, together, **we must act now**.»

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