EXPLORE OUR DIGITAL SOCIAL DESIGN DIRECTORY
LEARN ABOUT THE PEOPLE AND PRACTICES WHO USE DESIGN AS A TOOL FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

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? A community architects group, together with Mae-Tha subdistrict, show how protection of the national park forest can be performed simultaneously with management and preservation of agricultural practices. Asian Coalition for Housing Rights Is the Right to Housing Real? The Asian Coalition is a broad coalition of grassroots organizations, NGOs, architects and engineers currently working in 215 cities across Asia. Is the Right to Housing Real? City Repair Project City Repair Project How can public space be reclaimed to forge stronger communities? Portland, Oregon-based City Repair Project (CRP) seeks to address America’s lack of community gathering spaces by empowering neighborhoods to reclaim public spaces and creatively repurpose them to bring people together. How can public space be reclaimed to forge stronger communities? People moving into their new homes at Vashi Naka, Mumbai from settlements near the Railway tracks as part of the resettlement and rehabilitation program under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP). SPARC What can slum dwellers teach design professionals? SPARC organizes, legitimizes and advocates for India’s urban poor, seeking improved living conditions and advancements in rights. SPARC believes that with structural support, the urban poor can make their destinies. What can slum dwellers teach design professionals? Proximity Designs Can design help raise the income of small hold farmers in Myanmar? Proximity Designs is a not-for-profit social enterprise working to reduce poverty for rural families in Myanmar. Can design help raise the income of small hold farmers in Myanmar?
VIEW ALL PRACTICES

Prize Winners

Learn about our Prize Winners, Grantees, and Design Circle.

Learn More

Podcasts

Social Design Insights podcast. Conversations with the leading voices of the social design movement.

Listen Here

Videos

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

Watch Here

Initiatives

Supporting inspiring work around the world

Read More

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.

LEARN MORE ABOUT CSF

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.