Creative Sustainability Design theses
Collection of Creative Sustainability Master's thesis works from the field of design at Aalto
The following is a list of thesis works completed by the graduates of the Creative Sustainability Master’s Programme in the Department of Design:
2025
| Name | Topic | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Coops, Dinah | Bat-Man and the Modern Smart Neighborhood: Exploring more-than-human participatory design and perception shifting | |
| Diaz Tufinio, Manuel | Once upon a time in a wetland: Interweaving bulrush and culture in the Ciénegas del Lerma through critical design | |
| Heikkinen, Miina | Farmer, farm, and a lens: exploring participatory photography in design research for communicating Finnish rural realities | |
| Morandi, Giorgia | Facilitating Grassroots Transformation: The Systemic Role of Facilitation in Supporting Participatory and Adaptive Culture in Ecovillages | |
| Pascolo, Sofia | Envisioning the future of cities through collaborative processes: recommendations for the city of Venice | |
| Pippola, Jaana | From Waste into a Precious Crafting Medium: Exploring the Material and Systemic Potential of Used and Damaged Particleboard | |
| Pottier, Nathan | Physicalising CO₂ data | |
| Sekar, Shita | Bali, Tourism, and the Coast: In Search of Narratives for Alternative Futures | |
| Wang, Yuqing | Exploring Design Support for Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis Exercise Rehabilitation: a Service Ecosystem Perspective in Chinese Urban Communities | Abstract |
| Weisskopf, Thekla | Remake - a user-friendly guide to novelty through deconstruction and creation | |
| Yu, Yue | Research on the Service Design for Chinese Breastfeeding Women in Career-induced Mother-infant Separation Scenarios | Abstract |
2024
| Name | Topic | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Aavanranta, Satu Piia | Connecting with darkness through Choreographic Encounters | |
| Buchta, Michael Timo | Unlocking Rural Potential: Identifying barriers and enablers for transformational capacity towards increased resilience within European rural communities. | |
| Escobar Molina, Valeria | Exploring the desirable future of land use, through the balance of urban and environmental interests and tensions in a mid-sized city of a megadiverse country | |
| Farias, Gabriela Bianca | Giving sense to mycelium biomaterials through community-driven biodesign | |
| Hartmann, Chloe Lucile | Exploring the potential of business incubators in fostering sustainability transitions A Case Study of Urban Tech Helsinki | |
| Ikonen, Paula Susanna | Nonhuman animal agency in transition design: Advancing the moral status of nonhuman animals in the Finnish general upper secondary education | |
| Lei, Haoyue | A study on the participatory strategies of temporary urbanism in Chinese neighbourhood in-between spaces | |
| Ning, Jin | Enhancing Inclusivity in Chinese Supermarkets for Older Shoppers | Abstract |
| Raiza, Raiza | Sex-Ed for Children in India - Designing a sex-educative toolkit to empower adolescents & improve ease of communication between parents and children in India. | |
| Reinikainen, Iines Maria | Transformation Imagination – Connecting Citizen Agency to Political Imaginaries of Sustainability Transformation | Abstract |
| Roover, Kaisa | Multispecies Sustainable Baltic Sea 2050 | |
| Rynefors, Sara Maria | Conversations at the poolside: A visual approach to studying private swimming pools and sustainability in Sweden | |
| Seppänen, Monica Celeste | More-than-human Relations in Marine Science at the Archipelago Sea: Unveiling and Exploring Embodiment with Documentary Filmmaking | Abstract |
| Singhal, Pragati | KITCHENS TO KINSHIPS : Understanding hidden role of domestic care and meaning of empowerment through stories of women in the ecosystem of a textile craft community in India (The case of Kosa Silk Weaving Community in Chattisgarh) | |
| Tahvonen, Amir Olavi | Gatherings - Urban foraging as diverse provisioning in Southern Finland | |
| Tarasiuk, Andrzej | Mechanical Trees, Wool Canopies: Investigating the Intersection of Art, Nature and Tech through Localized Empathetic Ecosystem Service Design Methodology | |
| Väänänen, Vera Nella Santeli | Scaling Creativity: Supporting High-Growth Creative Entrepreneurship Through University Ecosystem Development | |
| Yu, Tianyi | The Last Ferry: Exploring Everyday Water (Im)mobilities and Infrastructural Change in Nansha, Guangzhou at the Pearl River Estuary | Abstract |
| Zuuring, Erik Jason | Digital Healthcare Solutions: Evaluating the usability of EHRs on public health services in Finland |
2023
| Name | Topic | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Kenttämies, Katriina Sofia | Resilient communities as value creators: Exploring participatory knowledge creation with the Lapinlahti community | |
| Korhonen, Helmi Iida Anniina | Time Landscape – Exploring the Artistic, Urban, and Ecological Potential of a Living Monument | |
| Mesarcik, Paul Josef | Design livelihoods in the polycrisis: Approaches for designers to organise towards degrowth compatible livelihoods | Abstract |
| Motani, Radhika | Evaluating the design of a citizen participation process: Understanding the enablers and barriers to citizen engagement | |
| Nieminen, Eve Kristiina | Translating values into actions – A case study on intersectional feminism in a speculative design process | |
| Pärnänen, Ada Matilda | Are we on the same page?: A thesaurus in leaving marks through street art | |
| Scoones, Hannah Peggy | Fashion design for disability: examining past and present practice to enable designers and brands to improve access to inclusive everyday wear | Abstract |
| Shutong, Zhang | A deep dive into the loneliness among Chinese immigrants in Finland | |
| Tedjokusumo, Laras Zita | Indigenous Ways of Knowing for Disaster Preparedness in Indonesia | |
| van der Linden, Sanne Roos | Building Co-Creative Partnerships for a Circular Economy through Startups: a case study | |
| Verkasalo, Roosa Veronika Pekantytär | Levels of Social Sustainability and the Urban Built Environment: Views on how they relate in the Finnish urban development context | Abstract |
| Zhang, Yan | Fostering Creativity in K12 Education with Gamification |
2022
| Name | Topic | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Carlier, Simon Jean | Species, machines, humans: anatomy and reconfiguration of a biomonitoring project | Abstract |
| del Marmol, Gaspard | Urban Acupuncture – A study on the potential of small-scale interventions to facilitate re-naturalisation in Charleroi | |
| Jain, Arunima | Waste and the built living environment: Municipal and socio-cultural systems in Finland | Abstract |
| Lai, Hsin-Yun | Cell, Parasitism, and Proliferation – Design framework of self-organization for architecture and urban design | |
| D'Angelo, Sara | An exploration in the Apulian human-plants relations: uncovering wild flora knowledge for educational ways forward | |
| Duan, Zhouying | What is the sustainable development competence for design major students | Abstract |
| Helgestad, André Arman | Infrastructuring just sutainability transitions: prefiguring missions inside a challenge-driven innovation program from Design and Architechture Norway | |
| Jumite, Ruta | Food Wellbeing and Suffering Index for Sustainable Food Consumption | |
| Vize, Savannah Zoe | The Environmental Citizen's Playbook: A co-design enquiry into the playful potential of environmental action | |
| Zhuang, Mingyu | Exploring sustainable resource use for “empty museums” through sharing platform design: A case study of Helsinki Design Museum |
2021
| Name | Topic | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Ágústsdóttir, Ásta Karen | Environmental Food Labelling for Behaviour Change in the UK: A Critique and Mapping of Discourses | |
| Asif, Aman | Life beyond the visible spectrum - Algal entanglements | Abstract |
| Dahm, Martina Alexandra Wiktoria | CONSTRUCTS OF POWER IN CRISIS MANAGEMENT MISSIONS: A reflective journey on the understandings and experiences of Finnish experts | |
| Dean, Tessa Lidia | The Windows are In! Perceptions of sustainable interior architecture in the competition content of a prominent design magazine: A window into practice. | |
| Fräki, Susanna Maria | Circular Business Design process - How business design can be used to foster circular economy value creation? | |
| Gu, Naiquan | From Shopping Mall to Civic Mall: An Approach to Construct Public Sphere in Contemporary China | |
| Han, Zhengshuang | Service design for Type 2 diabetes in China rural areas: focusing on two villages in China HuaDong region | Abstract |
| Hansen, Henriette Friis | Feminist Futures Helsinki Hackathon: Transdisciplinary co-creation of socially engaged projects | |
| Koppang, Kaja Lund | Ripple effects of EUs Taxonomy Regulation 2020/852 on Norwegian SMEs | |
| Lehtinen, Jane Jasmin | Exploring Public Sector Innovation Challenges through a Case Study of New Zealand's Service Innovation Lab | |
| Leiviskä, Daniel Jonatan | Low-Carbon Good Life – The Social and Well-Being Effects of 1.5 Degree Lifestyles | |
| Li, Junrui | Food Identity Conveyed: Improving Customers’ Food Value Recognition in Cross-Cultural Dining Scenarios | Abstract |
| Li, Zhihao | Action research on a design-driven social innovation experimental project | Abstract |
| Lin, Ying | Floating Chapel - A Redesign of Chinese Weddings towards Sustainability | |
| Meng, Xinghua | Co-Housing in China: Feasibility Study of Chinese Elderly Co-housing in the Coming Decade | |
| Park, Hyoeun | How does tap water contribute to sense of place in Finland? A study of residents' lived experiences. | |
| Rumo, Delphine | Towards healthy circular economies in the building industry - the agency of plasterboard and futures of partition walls | |
| Saramäki, Rinna Aurora | Communicating clothing quality | |
| Senyildiz, Aybars | Recognizing Relationality through Kombucha Fermentation Practices | |
| Sood, Shreya | Design in the Anthropocene, broadening Human Centred Design |
2020
| Name | Topic | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Hernandez, Angela Estefania | Integration of Sustainable Interior Design Practices - Adding Value to Interior Design Services Provided by Suunnittelutoimisto Amerikka | Abstract |
| Liao, Hsiao-Pei | The potential of blockchain technology in expanding voluntary carbon markets | Abstract |
| Piaulokaite, Viktorija | Humane Orbits. A Scenario planning study for sustainable futures of space | |
| Wolff, Joel Teodor Matteus | Preparing for MaaS: Developing an intermediate design framework for the European local authority looking to enable Mobility-as-a-Service | |
| Candamil Llano, Mauricio | Climate change and academic air travel practices at Aalto University: a case study | |
| Carluccio, Raffaella | Quomodo: a Strategic Design analysis of Sustainability Approaches in Fashion SMEs | |
| Chen, Yu | Popular understanding of sustainability in China: A sociopolitical perspective | |
| Dametto, Elisa Sandra | Speculative Futures of Forest-Dependent Livelihoods: Exploring Alternatives to Economic Growth in Finnish Forests | |
| Einola, Katri Jenni Sofia | Partnering with Nature - In search of regenerative approaches in urban environments | |
| Lahtinen, Salla Katariina | Calculating and Tracking the Environmental Impacts of Everyday - An overview of Finnish footprinting tools | |
| Monje Farias, Luis Alfonso | A short conundrum on material waste defamiliarization and creative accessibility | |
| Ruus-Prato | Designing to Hear the Voices of Unemployed Jobseekers: Exploring Possibilities and Challenges of Public Sector Design in the Employment Services of Sipoo Municipality | |
| Chang, Fang Shiuan | Gamification Design for Behaviour Change: Incentivising Passengers to Choose Eco-Friendly Flights | Abstract |
| Garbett, Abigail Jane | Being for nature: Exploring the design of pedagogical greenspaces to support children's connection to nature in the urban context | |
| He, Dian | Sustainability on Display: Semiotic Analysis of Sustainable Fashion Visual Merchandising | |
| Jannuzzi Fonseca, Luisa | Material development for user acceptance: a design-led exploration of cellulose-based materials for sustainable FMCG packaging | |
| Lee, Junyoung | A new approach to sustainable children's clothing: Extendable clothes co-designed with children | |
| Malrechauffe Came, Tania | Toward sustainable lifestyles through collaborative consumption platforms: a case study of a community from Montevideo city | |
| Nadig Surendra, Surabhi | A critique of development-as-growth in the context of menstruation in rural India. Cocreating desirable futures with stakeholder engagement |
Abstract |
| Nielsen, Sonja Kristiina | Initiating transitions towards 1.5-degree lifestyles: An action research study on a design game | |
| Ohotnikova, Ekaterina | Women, Feminism, Sustainability | Abstract |
| Peiretti, Ada | Designers and Scientific Knowledge Production: A Case Study of Collaboration in Aalto University | |
| Shen, Liangyan | Upper Limb-rehabilitation Service System for Chinese Mild-stroke Patients at Home | |
| Villaman, Natalia | Fostering resistance: Acknowledging notions of power exertion and politics in design facilitation | |
| Wittka, Mirko Kristian | Designed Agency in Collaborations: Exploring cross-sector collaboration in Finland's artificial intelligence programme AuroraAI |
2019
| Name | Topic | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Arias Barrantes, Manuel | LAB-GROWN FUTURES: Design exploration for the development of fungi as a leather-like material | |
| Dwiyani, Talisa | Sustainable Initiative within Material Development: Towards Sustainable Design in Indonesia from Rice Straw Residue | |
| Gilly Marquez, Andrea | Urban Food Production for Socio-Technical Transformations | |
| Marton, Helen Katalin | Design capability in Finnish governmental organizations: perspectives of design-minded civil servants | |
| Matias, Andrew Edward | Design for Collective Action: A Digital Tool for Network Governance and Collaboration | |
| Moradi Zavie Kord, Soroush | Reviewing and Designing an Atmospheric Water Generator (AWG) | |
| Muukkonen, Anna | Elephant in the classroom: Design Teachers’ perceptions of sustainability and their implementations of it in Bachelor level design education | |
| Nsanbayeva, Nurgul | A systems approach to sustainability in higher education: Analysis of undergraduate architectural education in Kazakh Leading | |
| Park, Goeun | Rethinking Social Acceptance of Renewable Energy | |
| Rueda Mejia, Sara | Emotional Nature: A learning experience to explore how materials relate to emotions | |
| Svartström, Anna Maria Henrika | Towards reducing micro plastic fiber pollution in local and global waterways | Abstract |
| Vargas Contreras, Maritere | Exploring digital tools for public administration: A case study of a GIS tool for a Costa Rican Municipality | |
| Varjus, Anna-Kaisa | Serious game as a tool for envisioning alternative sustainable futures: An action research study on the Tivoli Utopia discussion game | |
| Vierula, Minna | Engineer meets Human: Co-design, Learning and Serving in Repair Construction Planning |
2018
| Name | Topic | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Berg, Emma | Fishing lessons – Capabilities approach in the design process for public work and daytime activity services for disabled people | |
| Isasi, Carolina | Towards Decolonial Earthen Architecture | |
| Kangur, Kätlin | Educating Students in a Changing World: Teachers’ Perspectives on Participatory Learning for Sustainability in Finland | Abstract |
| Kokki, Anna Maria Karoliina | Experiments on Experiments – Service design explorations in the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) | |
| Kolehmainen, Mirka Maria | The Role of Illustrations in Children’s Sustainability-Related Picture Books | Abstract |
| Konttinen, Heidi | Decolonizing Seal Trade | |
| Menge, Simone Erna | Static and in motion: How Finnish design culture changes through the work of sustainability-oriented designers | |
| Mostafa, Gaspar | Data as a design material: An analysis on the challenges of working with “big data” related technologies in an industrial context | |
| Steiner, Séverine | Eating for the Environment: Designing a Model to Change People’s Behaviour towards Eating a Plant-Based Diet. | Abstract |
| Wong, Chin Chin | Riddle of the Spirit: promoting sustainability through playful learning design in Finnish education |
2017
| Name | Topic | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Casalegno, Oona | Death is life: How regenerative thinking can revolutionize Western end of life practices, and how cellulose can contribute to the change | |
| Du, Yuexin | Struggles and Successes: How the internet and social media have affected the design and crafts industry | |
| E, Hengjia | Struggles of living in the city: Ethnographic study of street vendors in Shanghai | |
| Ferreira Litowtschenko, María | Alternative food narratives. Activities towards more sustainable food production and consumption: Do-do’s urban farmers group in Helsinki | |
| Forde, Glen | Examining Craft Brewing as a Social Innovation Process | |
| Herald, Bice Lee Rebecca | Problem Framing for Applied Research: Evaluating a New Designer’s Approach to Problem Framing to Improve the Sustainability in Our Food Production Chain | |
| Karlsson, Paula | Teachers’ Perspective on the National Core Curriculum of Basic Education 2016: Finding Leverage in Supporting Upper-comprehensive School Teachers with Phenomenon-Based Learning and Co-design | |
| Kim, Hyesun | How farming practices have developed in Seoul, South Korea from the 1960s to the 2010s: Focusing on the Green Revolution Technology, Organic Farming and Urban Farming | |
| Manninen, Riikka | Participatory Multilevel Design: Envisioning Campus Futures in Higher Education | |
| Menestrina, Jutta Maria | Discovering Opportunities for Design-Driven Real Estate Development: Comparing perceptions of design project progress from two viewpoints in the case of Torikorttelit |
|
| Mäkelä, Lilli Maaria | Design for Discardables: Exploring household biowaste practices in Finland | |
| Rehula, Elise | Empathy Builds Bridges: Design Perspectives to Project Leadership | |
| Räty, Niko | Home Bioreactor: Local food from plant cell cultures |
2016
| Name | Topic | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Hector, Philip | Trojan Horse: Re-framing sustainable practices as “design support” to attract new practitioners | |
| Hylerstedt, Richard | Being Very Human: Designerly Ways of Working in Public Sector City Development as Social Changemaking | Abstract |
| Kauppi, Hanna | Insect economy and marketing: How much and in what way could insects be shown in packaging? | |
| Lee, Fang-Yi | What do they really mean by “design”? – A textual analysis of the reports from design-led labs that strive for better service provision and policymaking | |
| Pakbeen, Hesamedin | Where UX and Sustainability meet. Facilitating eco-behaviour in cruise ship cabins: A guideline for Experience Designers | |
| Romero, Briana Nicole | The Playground of Education: Parallels between alternative childhood learning and the interdisciplinary multicultural university | |
| Valkola, Anni Inkeri | Coping alone – Exploring indifference as an experience through empathic design | |
| Väänänen, Jenni Maaria | Landscapes of Time: Exploring emerging trends countering the mega trend of acceleration as inspiration for concept development of a magazine |
2015
| Name | Topic | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Ahlström, Mikko Tuomas | Stimulating regional renewable energy planning in the City of Espoo with an application based on Open Data | |
| Bushueva, Julia | Thinking Outside of the Can: Sustainable Management of Post-Consumer Paint and Packaging in Finland | |
| Happonen, Heta | Reaching out through comics: Co-creating comics for environmental education | |
| Kodathoor, Sujil | The Role of the Designer Facilitator — A field based design approach towards facilitating a collaborative technology for a health care project | |
| Laukkanen, Sanna Johanna | Yes in our backyard! – Facilitating proactive citizen participation in urban planning | |
| Leomi, Elle Sisko | Tokyo Flâneur: A Study Of Urban Experience In Narrative | |
| Lihhavtshuk, Roman | Perceiving eco-labels as sustainability brands: The role of visual design and co-branding in credibility of eco-labels | |
| Mäkinen, Sami Sebastian | Future Floating Community for Singapore 2030 | |
| Mehta, Mridu | Supporting the Design and Development of an Online Advocacy Community: A community model and related design elements for advancing women’s health and rights | |
| Österlin La Mont, Amanda Carolin | Facilitating Climate Transition: Co-designing future scenarios and pathways to build capacity for change among citizens and policy makers | |
| Poutanen, Olli Ilmari | Embodied interaction choreographies: Kinesthetic approach to intelligent environment design | |
| Salovaara, Janne Juhani | On an example of a Post-formal education – on Social Sustainability | |
| Tarkkonen, Elina | Sustainability ROI Measurement: Towards a more comprehensive model on sustainability investment decision-making – A case study | |
| Valladares Noguera, Maria Andrea | Design When Social Enterprises Arise: Design for Sustainable Development in Guatemala through Social Enterprises | |
| Vertiz Marquez, Brenda Victoria | Spaceability (Co-designing a tangible space for learning by understanding the in-tangible core of Aalto’s Creative Sustainability community) |
2014
| Name | Topic | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Baradwaj, Aajwanthi Krithivasan | Awareness and Participation towards Encouraging Sustainable Urban Water Management: A Case Study of the Jakkur Lake, Bangalore | |
| Baroncelli Torretta, Nicholas | A Journey Through Alternative Ways of Living: A design approach for scaling up grassroots initiatives towards sustainability | |
| Byggmästar, Bianca | Uncovering Treasures – Approaching Sustainability through Renovation in Interior Design | |
| Oguz, Aslihan | My Dear Kitchen in Helsinki: Explorations on a Community of Practice Using Food, Cooking and Blogging |
2013
| Name | Topic | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Bäckman, Malin Emilia | Explorations in Kannelmäki: Building design knowledge through practice-based design research | |
| Hirscher, Anja Lisa | Joyful participation in new ways of designing and making clothes – Enabling person-product attachment to potentially reduce unnecessary consumption | |
| Kajamaa, Suvi | A Public Toilet – a Window to Values and Wellbeing of Society | |
| Knappers, Caroline Cornelia Freea | Using the Unused: Spaces for Aalto University’s Creative Community | |
| Park, Joong Yeol | Journey of Jerrycan: Sustainable Local Product Design Development for SMEs Designers: A Case study from Kampala, Uganda |