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LEARN ABOUT THE PEOPLE AND PRACTICES WHO USE DESIGN AS A TOOL FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

The Safe Cities: Because I am a girl project aimed to provide safer cities for girls by creating a sense of ownership for users of public space.CLUSTER team showing the proposed design at one of the organized community workshops with the girls and women of the Izbat Khayrallah informal neighborhood. CLUSTER Cairo How do we democratize design? Founded in Egypt in response to the Arab Spring, Cairo Lab for Urban Studies, Training and Environmental Research (CLUSTER) is an interdisciplinary platform for urban design and research working to establish a critical space for urban discourse by engaging questions of public space and specifically, urban informality. How do we democratize design? Maya Pedal Can bicycles power essential tasks and support microbusinesses? In rural Guatemala, energy sources are scarce. Maya Pedal repurposes donated bicycles into pedal-powered machines that can blend food, grind corn and lift water from wells, without requiring electricity. Can bicycles power essential tasks and support microbusinesses? Customized size and shape basketball court. La Ye 5 de Julio, Petare, Caracas. Image Credit: José Bastidas PICO Colectivo Is design about the process or the result? PICO focuses on interventions in gathering spaces. They believe that architecture is not an end it in itself. The process of understanding the interaction of life and space is vital. Is design about the process or the result? Children running in front of Klay Poe Klo Primary School. Klay Poe Klo Primary school is the first project designed for Gyaw Gyaw by Jae-Young Lee. The first phase contains of two classrooms and a library. It is a timber building with bamboo walls. The design is based on traditional Karen techniques and materials but strengthened and given a functional and climate adjusted design for better use over time. Photograph by Vincenzo Floramo Gyaw Gyaw Can architecture help stateless people put down roots? Gyaw Gyaw is a community development non-profit that works with the Karen people at the border between Myanmar and Thailand. The organization combines low-cost, sustainable building techniques with community input to ensure designs are appropriate to the customs and culture of each village. Can architecture help stateless people put down roots? Design solution for low cost housing Luyanda Mpahlwa Can a community be built with sand? Luyanda Mpahlwa is part of a vanguard of designers reshaping and re-envisioning South Africa’s post-apartheid architectural landscape. Can a community be built with sand?
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Social Design Insights podcast. Conversations with the leading voices of the social design movement.

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Short, inspiring films about social design pioneers around the globe.

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CSF’s Mission is to empower the practice of community-driven social design

The Curry Stone Design Foundation supports groups and individuals using design to build healthier, more vital communities. Over time, this support has taken the form of an annual prize, a podcast, grants, and an honorary circle.

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Social Design Insights is a weekly podcast of conversations with leading designers who discuss innovative projects and practices that use design to address pressing social justice issues.

Hosted by Eric Cesal, Produced by Baruch Zeichner.

Listen to the latest episode of Social Design Insights here.

IN MEMORIAM

Jockin Arputham dedicated his life to working with slum dwellers to build representative organizations into powerful partnerships with governments and international agencies for the betterment of urban living.

Mr. Jockin Arputham

We are saddened to learn of the passing of our dear friend, colleague and incredible humanitarian Mr. Jockin Arputham.

Jockin dedicated his life to working with slum dwellers to build representative organizations into powerful partnerships with governments and international agencies for the betterment of urban living. Arputham was the president of the National Slum Dwellers Federation which he founded in the 70s and of Slum Dwellers International which is now a network of slum and shack dweller organizations and federations from over twenty countries across the world.

The National Slum Dwellers Federation works closely with Mahila Milan, a collective of savings groups formed by homeless women and women living in slums across India, and with SPARC, a Mumbai-based NGO that was awarded the Curry Stone Design Prize for their instrumental work in supporting tens of thousands of the urban poor access housing and sanitation throughout India.