The School of Design Strategies is an experimental educational environment configured to advance innovative approaches to design and business education in the evolving context of cities, services, and ecosystems. Our students and faculty explore designing as core capability and design as strategic asset in the sustainable practices of individuals, groups, communities, and organizations alike.
Foundation develops students' observational, technical, and intellectual skills and introduces them to various disciplinary paths they can pursue in their sophomore year. The curriculum is intentionally broad and the makeup of classes deliberately diverse to maximize students' exposure to different fields of study—and to the fellow students who will become professional colleagues.
SDS offers rich and multifaceted experiences that traditional academic disciplines do not. The school applies design thinking to problems in the urban realm, the environment, business innovation, and services and systems.
Recognizing the shift of population into large cities, rapid climate change, and the preponderance of design intended for the economically privileged in the post-retail world, the school has adopted a threefold mission: making cities more vibrant, diverse, and resilient; helping individuals and societies mitigate and adapt to climate change; and improving the lives of people across the socioeconomic spectrum and the world.
Parsons' curriculum evolves in response to world events, ecological trends, and political movements, and SDS serves as the laboratory for this adaptation. The school's programs are among the newest at Parsons, and they focus on foreseeing changes in design, business, and art.
The success of SDS is dependent on self-motivated students who are curious about the world and who perceive actions and things as nodes of seemingly disparate forces. Regardless of what students major in within the School of Design Strategies, this new generation of businesspeople, designers, and social entrepreneurs has solidified transdisciplinary approaches to social and environmental challenges, and interdisciplinary models of problem solving and thinking.
In fall 2012, Parsons is launching a research-driven MA in Theories of Urban Practice, a studio-based MS in Design and Urban Ecologies, a hybrid online-on campus MS in Strategic Design and Management, and a fully online Graduate Certificate in Design Business.
