Creative Sustainability Design: Chinny Wong

Being part of the Creative Sustainability (CS) program was a unique and valuable experience in my life.  I am from Hong Kong and I worked as a toy designer before starting my studies.  In the summer 2016, I arrived at Aalto University with curiosity.  My aspiration was to understand more about the world and how I can personally contribute to the field of sustainability.  To me, the CS program established an open-but-critical path to explore this abstract topic.  It provided a range of courses with diverse perspectives.  The nature of the multi-disciplinary learning also broadened both my worldview and network.  The courses I most enjoyed include: Design for Government, Sustainability Politics, How to Change the World and my master’s thesis.  In my thesis, I connected my CS knowledge to my background and dived into how play design could educate children about the complex field of sustainability.  Although the program was not easy and full of challenges, the school and teachers were being very supportive to me.  There was always help when needed.

The other thing I appreciate about the CS program is the sense of experimentation and openness. The program took account of students’ feedback and adjusted the content accordingly.  This made me, as a student, feel the importance of participation and sharing thoughts.  After my two-year learning journey, I have certainly gained more than expected.  The gain was not just new knowledge and skills, but also about meeting a group of wonderful international friends and teachers.  This program gathered a lot of active and intelligent people around the world with similar goals and beliefs.  In such an international setting, we together researched, explored and created many interesting projects to address global issues.

As a graduate, I have to say I am proud to be part of CS and Aalto University.  I would definitely recommend this program and encourage interested future students to join this community.  I am currently working in the University of Helsinki on a project related to designing pedagogical materials for early childhood sustainability education.