This presentation reviews a pedagogical case study, on going since 2015, exploring how design students might contribute to Climate Change adaptation and planning. The Griffith Centre for Coastal Management (GCCM) and the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF) are engaged in a dialogue with Griffith University Queensland College of Art (QCA) 3^rd year Visual Communication Design students focussed on investigating ways design , communication design and other creative ‘designerly’ approaches can be utilised in the efforts of Climate Change adaptation, especially those undertaken in such research facilities.

Students learned coastal hazard risks projected to occur in the future along the Queensland coastline. The students then conceptualised creative Design Fictions that illustrated scenarios of how designed events, participatory design and social innovation might bring to focus, question and shift perceptions in the public sphere of; Coastal Management, Climate Change adaptation planning, measures of risk in todays industrial society and patterns of behaviour restricting adaptation.

The student’s supervisor (the author) will discuss the theoretical background of the project, which sits within a critical edge of design (Fry, 2015; Tonkenwise, 2016) that aims to; develop narratives of sustainable futures; amplify sustainable projects undertaken by local communities as steps to long-term transition, and; work in trans-disciplinary teams. A critical review of the student outcomes thus far will then be discussed.