The article outlines three generations of design theories and methods based upon review of two volumes: Jean-Pierre Protzen and David J. Harris. The Universe of Design: Horst Rittel’s Theories of Design and Planning. Routledge, 2010; and Non-Essential Knowledge for New Architecture (ed.) David L. Hays. 306090 Inc. 2013. Design paradigms outlined in the two volumes are based upon ways of thinking, linear and lateral, convergent and divergent. They are reected in methods developed to solve problems: algorithms, argumentation, and grounded speculations. The rst generation was based upon linear thinking and technical rationality; second generation acknowledged design as a wicked problem and used argumentation as a method; and the third generation advocates lateral thinking. ABSTRACT Design Paradigms and their Impact on Education KEY WORDS: Design, Paradigm, Knowledge, Method, Education Tekton Volume 2, Issue 2, September 2015 pp. 52 - 57 Amita Sinha is Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, USA. Her landscape heritage projects in India include: Sarnath, Taj Mahal, Champaner-Pavagadh in Gujarat, Rockfort in Tiruchirapalli, Gomti Riverfront in Lucknow, Delhi Ridge, Govardhan Hill and Yamuna Riverfront in Braj, Orchha, and Amber. She is the author of Landscapes in India: Forms and Meanings (University Press of Colorado, 2006), editor of Landscape Perception (Academic Press, 1995) and Delhi's Natural Heritage (USIEF and INTACH, 2009). Amita Sinha sinha2@illinois.edu Three Generations of Design Paradigms The review article outlines evolving paradigms of design theories and methods based upon review of two volumes: Jean-Pierre Protzen and David J. Harris. The Universe of Design: Horst Rittel’s Theories of Design and Planning. Routledge, 2010; and Non-Essential Knowledge for New Architecture (ed.) David L. Hays. 306090 Inc. 2013. The design paradigms are based upon ways of thinking, linear and lateral, convergent and divergent. They are reected in methods developed to solve problems: algorithms, argumentation, and grounded speculations. Academic discourse on the implications of design theories and methods on professional education is relatively recent given the long history of design practices and their professionalisation at the beginning of twentieth century. The scientic approach used post World War II for technological development shaped the rst generation of design methods originating in operations research and cybernetics. In following the model of technical rationality founded upon logical positivism, this paradigm ignored the long-standing apprentice model of design education centered on precedents, exemplars, and atelier learning from the master architect. The second generation of design methods repudiated scientic rationale based on causality and espoused the subjective nature of design. Argumentation and reection-in- practice were recognised as valid modes of design enquiry. The third generation builds on the insights of the previous generation and advocates lateral thinking and grounded speculations in design. Design as a Wicked Problem Horst Rittel’s (1932-1990) publications and unpublished papers written over two decades for faculty seminars at the University of California, Berkeley and collected in the volume The Universe of Design edited by Jean- Pierre Protzen and David J. Harris reject the assumptions and procedures of the rst generation methods. Rittel’s writings offered a new paradigm for thinking about design, a striking departure from the older linear model of problem framing through analysis leading to generation of solutions, their implementation, and evaluation in recurring feedback loops. Rittel described design as a wicked problem that cannot be solved in discrete steps in a linear sequence leading to the correct solution. He pointed out that in design there is no clear separation between problem denition, synthesis, and evaluation as the designer’s understanding of goals and how they may be achieved changes through the design process. Although his background was in mathematics and theoretical physics, and he was one of the founders of the rst generation Design Method Group, Rittel’s teaching experience at Ulm School in Germany and later in the Department of Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, brought about a radical shift in his understanding of the nature of design, its methodology and knowledge base. He understood design to be subjective, an exercise 53 52 TEKTON: Volume 2, Issue 2, September 2015 TEKTON: Volume 2, Issue 2, September 2015 Academic discourse on the implications of design theories and methods on professional education is relatively recent given the long history of design practices and their professionalisation at the beginning of twentieth century.