Travelling design: Learning from Hanoi’s craft streets through design-centred Vietnam study tours

Abstract

Abstract This article looks at the experiences of design students who took part in study tours of Vietnam offered as summer courses by the School of Design at Swinburne University of Technology in 2014, 2015 and 2016. It discusses the role that travel played in their design projects and their design education in general. The author suggests that looking at aspects of Vietnamese everyday life, including its built environment and local crafts, creates greater awareness and a better understanding of the social and cultural aspects of the design process. As outsiders based in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, over the course of the study tour the students achieved what Edward Relph (1976) called ‘empathetic insiderness’ – i.e. a willingness to be open to the significance of a place and to feel and appreciate this significance – as a result of exploring and engaging with the city’s architecture and everyday life.