This seminar provides the intellectual and contextual background for the transdisciplinary program. Design now interacts with increasingly complex cultural, technological, and economic forces; traditional design disciplines are no longer adequate to address complex global challenges. By exploring this shift, the course contextualizes the pressures to maintain specialization in design and the forces that currently challenge the disciplines. Literature and projects are used to argue that design can play a role in reshaping cultural practices. Students investigate not only cultural theory but also design case studies that have impacted cultural practices. In addition to doing readings, presentations and discussion, each student is expected to lead discussions on assigned readings.