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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? The school-boat travels to the children to provide basic primary education as the children can't travel to the school due to the lack of transportation during flooding in Bangladesh (Natore, 2013). Image Credit: Abir Abdullah/ Shidhulai Swanirvar Mohammed Rezwan How can design help flood prone communities to function when facilities and resources are under water? Founded by Mohammed Rezwan, Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha is a nonprofit that works to support the environment and people affected by climate change-induced flooding in Bangladesh by transforming waterways into pathways for education, information, and technology. How can design help flood prone communities to function when facilities and resources are under water? 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? For playground Wikado discarded rotor blades are used to create a mazelike space with a panna court in the center, placed on the existing concrete circle. Image Credit: Denis Guzzo Superuse Studios Can a “blue” economy be created where one business' waste is raw materials for another? Rotterdam based Superuse Studios is at the leading edge of ecological thought. Their work pioneers ideas around an economy where the waste of one business becomes raw materials for another. Can a “blue” economy be created where one business' waste is raw materials for another? Sergio Palleroni Sergio Palleroni Can social impact design be taught? Professor Sergio Palleroni has been a long-standing leader, thinker, practitioner and educator in the field of social impact design, with a career that predates the term ‘public interest design.’ He is currently a faculty member and director of the Centre for Public Interest Design in the School of Architecture at Portland State University. Can social impact design be taught?
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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.