Per un’idea innovativa di progettazione. Design for the Real World di Victor Papanek e lo sguardo della pedagogia speciale

Victor Papanek is considered one of the undisputed protagonists of social design of the 20th century, embodying an extremely rich design perspective, while including the concept of accessibility within a broader interpretation of design and its transformative role within society. In his emblematic work Design for the Real World. Human Ecology and Social Change (1971), the designer, by critically reflecting on the analogies between educational processes and those of design, and by questioning himself in depth on the theme of «minorities», recognized and thematised the need for renewed social and design attention towards persons with disabilities. This paper intends to investigate, within Papanek’s thought and production, the contribution that this unprecedented perspective on design and accessibility has provided and can provide — at an epistemological-cultural, educational and methodological level — to reflections on special pedagogy.