Review Gold Open Access 2025

Adapting the Baldrige Framework for Sustainable Creative Education: Urban Design, Architecture, Art, and Design Programs

Sustainability (Switzerland)
Journal · Vol. 17 · Issue 19 · Art. 8540
Abstract

Two critical research problems emerge in creative education quality management: the framework misalignment problem, where business-oriented performance metrics inadequately assess design creativity and innovation, and the sustainability integration gap, reflecting limited incorporation of environmental and social sustainability dimensions into excellence models. This review article addresses these problems by developing an initial framework that adapts the Baldrige framework for urban design, architecture, art, and design education with integrated sustainability principles. Drawing on literature review and theoretical synthesis, the article proposes a framework that introduces three key epistemological shifts: prioritizing process over product, supporting non-linear and reflective learning pathways, and recognizing tacit, embodied, and experiential knowledge as central to creative education. The framework incorporates the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as core design challenges and introduces innovative evaluation tools, including portfolios with iterative review processes, community feedback loops, and SDG mapping rubrics. This research contributes to the educational quality management literature by offering a systematic framework that bridges business excellence models with creative education paradigms while positioning sustainability as a core educational objective rather than a peripheral concern. © 2025 by the authors.

Keywords

Author Keywords

Sustainability architecture art Baldrige design framework urban design

Index Keywords

sustainability education Sustainable Development Goal literature review innovation urban design
Author Affiliations
School of Architecture, King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok, Thailand
Built Environment Innovation Lab, Bangkok University, Bangkok, Pathum Thani, Thailand
Department of Civil Engineering and Industrial Design, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, Merseyside, United Kingdom
Funding & Acknowledgements
No funding information
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