Desert control innovation with design thinking: A case study of the Malan-Lake project

AbstractThe world’s deserts are vast, and unfortunately the degree of damage is also significantly high. Worse still, people’s extensive reclamation has caused its constant expansion and invasion, even resulting in serious secondary disasters in people’s lives. There is an urgent need for desert control for the country in terms of ecological sustainability. In the past, models of desert control mainly concerned tree planting and sand fixation. However, these models are predictable, uninteresting, and even difficult. Therefore, through the research of the Malan-Lake project, this paper tries to re-examine the social problem of desert control and introduce innovative exploration from the perspective of Design Thinking. The main contents are as follows: (1) field investigation and problem definition; (2) methodology and the process of concept formation; (3) innovative scheme prototype based on the workshop; (4) innovative practices tests and the future. The aim is to provide new perspectives for desert control.Keywords: desert controlinnovationDesign Thinkingthe Malan-Lake project AcknowledgementsI would like to thank my supervisor Professor Xiangyang Xin and all the team members of the project for their support.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.Additional informationFundingThis research was supported by the ‘Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Programme of Jiangsu Province’ (Number: KYCX20_1888).Notes on contributorsJianchun ZhuJianchun Zhu is a PhD candidate at the School of Design, Jiangnan University (China). He is also a design lead at Taizhou College, Nanjing Normal University (China). His research interests include design strategy, design theory, and social innovation.