Garbage is a misplaced resource. With economic development, underground mineral resources are running out while enormous precious resources (minerals) have been turned into facilities and supplies in our daily life, which become the so-called “Urban Mine”. This paper will introduce the core idea, teaching method and student works with regard to the course Urban Mine Redesign offered by Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, explain how to guide students to incorporate social and environmental issues into design and explore solutions to future sustainable cities through design thinking.

Authors: Liu Xin, Zhong Fang