What is Social Impact Design?
- Overview
- Most Urgent Questions
About the Foundation
Social Design Insights Podcast

What is Social Impact Design?
- Overview
- Most Urgent Questions
About the Foundation
Social Design Insights Podcast

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Informal Settlements

04 | Engaging Community, Engaging Practice

Should designers be outlaws? Arquitectura Expandida discusses its approach to working in informal communities alongside (and sometimes around) government.

Advocacy
Community Development
Urban Strategies

100 | Designing Portals to Connect the World

Podcast

Design at the Intersection of Technology and Humanity Michelle Moghtader is the Director of Global Development & Co-Founder of Shared Studios, as well as a journalist and community organizer.

Community Development

110 | Cities of the Future, Cities of the Past

Podcast

Engaging + Reframing the 'Refugee' Crisis Kilian Kleinschmidt of IPA/Swixtboard is an internationally regarded expert in international development, emergency response, and resource mobilization.

Community Development

111 | Adapting our Global Institutions to Today’s Challenges

Podcast

Engaging + Reframing the 'Refugee' Crisis Dr. Nina Hall is an Assistant Professor of International Relations at John Hopkins University School of Advanced International Relations, where she studies the global organizations that preside over issues of climate change, migration and displacement.

Community Development

13 | How to Design a School for $200

Podcast

Social Design Circle Honoree

Can design challenge inequality? David Barragán of Al Borde discusses how design can empower a community to become their own designers & builders.

Community Development

16 | Design, Development and Disaster Mitigation in Pakistan

Podcast

Social Design Circle Honoree

Can design prevent disaster? Yasmeen Lari details the growth of resilient architecture and sustainable development in Pakistan.

Conflict and Disaster

31 | Clothing, Currency and Community

Podcast

Social Design Circle Honoree

Can we design a slum-friendly city? Anshu Gupta of Goonj discusses his unique methodology for community development: clothes as currency.

Advocacy
Community Development
Environment

47 | Using Design to Bring Down Crime

Podcast

Social Design Circle Honoree

Does design create politics or vice versa? Kathryn Ewing and Don Shay of VPUU outline how community-based planning can make real results in crime prevention.

Community Development
Housing

Al Borde

Social Design Circle Honoree

Podcast

How does constraint lead to creativity? Al Borde is a collaborative studio that engages people on the margins of society. Their work is known for extreme affordability and elegantly illustrates how constraint leads to creativity.

Community Development

Arquitectura Expandida

Social Design Circle Honoree

Podcast

Should designers be outlaws? Arquitectura Expandida is a design collective based in Bogota, Colombia that builds structures of public assembly for communities which cannot afford to go through official channels for design and construction.

Advocacy
Community Development
Urban Strategies

Asian Coalition for Housing Rights

Social Design Circle Honoree

Podcast

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.

Advocacy
Housing

Build Change

Social Design Circle Honoree

Podcast

What is needed to rebuild resiliently after a disaster? Denver-based non-profit Build Change designs disaster-resistant houses and schools for emerging nations, then trains builders, homeowners, engineers and government officials to build them using simple, culturally appropriate, and cost-effective techniques.

Community Development
Conflict and Disaster

Goonj

Social Design Circle Honoree

Podcast

How can donated clothing be translated into community renewal? Goonj is a non-governmental organization based in Delhi. It barters clothing and other donated items to pay laborers from the community to carry out development projects in poorer areas.

Advocacy
Community Development
Environment

Heritage Foundation of Pakistan

Social Design Circle Honoree

Podcast

Can post disaster housing be sustainable and respectful of local vernacular? The Heritage Foundation of Pakistan is one of the world’s most successful providers of sustainable, resilient disaster relief structures. They are also involved in historic conservation projects in Pakistani villages.

Conflict and Disaster

Hunnarshala

2013 Prize Winner

Video

How can artisans build a resilient community? Hunnarshala works with artisans to combine traditional building techniques with innovation. They are also engaged in training and empowering artisan entrepreneurs, bringing them into the mainstream of construction.

Conflict and Disaster
Environment
Housing

Liter of Light

2012 Prize Winner

Video

Can a plastic bottle bring light where electricity is scarce? Philippines based Liter of light is a global, open-source, grassroots movement committed to providing affordable, sustainable light to people with limited or no access to electricity.

Community Development

Sanergy

Social Design Circle Honoree

Can waste management create jobs and improve hygiene? Launched in Nairobi’s slums, Sanergy is a business and sanitation initiative. Low-cost pay toilets are run by locals as a business. Waste is processed into fertilizer and sold to commercial farms.

Community Development
Environment

SPARC

2016 Prize Winner

Vision Award Recipient

Video

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.

Advocacy
Community Development

Urban-Think Tank

Social Design Circle Honoree

Podcast

How can urban dwellers participate in the construction of their own built environment? Urban-Think Tank (UTT) is an interdisciplinary design studio dedicated to high level research and design at a variety of scales, principally concerned with contemporary architecture and urbanism.

Community Development
Urban Strategies

Violence Prevention Through Urban Upgrading

Social Design Circle Honoree

Podcast

Can urban upgrading reduce crime? In Cape Town’s Khayelitsha township, Violence Prevention Through Urban Upgrading (VPUU) uses urban planning to fight crime, developing interventions in high-crime spots. They create decent, livable communities through local planning.

Community Development
Housing

Wes Janz

2008 Prize Winner

Video

How can designers address poverty in American cities? Architect Wes Janz focuses on the potential of informal settlements and camps housing 1 billion of the world’s poor. He sees these as a utilitarian beauty wrought of necessity.

Advocacy
Environment
Housing
Urban Strategies

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The Curry Stone Foundation (CSF) is the brainchild of architect, urban planner and developer Clifford Curry, FAIA, and the historical archeologist Dr. Delight Stone, RPA. It was inspired by a shared conviction that design thinking and design actions can—and should, serve those wishing to contribute to community vitality and human dignity. Most of all, we believe that design should be available to those most in need.

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