Education on solar design for African continent local culture

In the framework of the severe environmental, social and cultural emergencies affecting people from Africa’s poorest areas, the principles of sustainable development (Rio de Janeiro Conference, 1992) and ‟design for human diversity, social inclusion and equality” (Design for all, Stockholm Declaration, 2004) represent the guiding social and ethical values on which responsible education should be grounded. We believe it is a clear act of responsibility of design culture and education. This commitment requires university education programs to be constantly updated in order to give appropriate answers to the demand for sustainability and the rising awareness by young designers towards the environment and social inclusion. This paper shows a concrete education, experimentation and project designing action carried out recently by the Università di Chieti-Pescara (Italy), in the specific field of Solar design applied to the local culture of Developing Countries.