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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Urban Investigation

01-02 | Reimagining the Border, Part 1 & 2

Should designers be outlaws? Teddy Cruz and Fonna Forman of Estudio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman discuss their practice at the Tijuana/San Diego border and how design transcends politics.

Community Development

06-07 | Fighting for Dignified Housing, Part 1 & 2

Podcast

Is the right to housing real? Jonathan Kirschenfeld and Brenda Rosen share their thoughts on the right to housing, and methodologies for doing supportive housing well.

Housing

24-25 | Tools for Urban Action, Part 1 & 2

Podcast

Social Design Circle Honoree

Can design reclaim public space? Ecosistema Urbano & Interboro share their stories about how they shaped a practice around public space.

Advocacy
Community Development
Urban Strategies

40 | Activating Community Voices

Podcast

Social Design Circle Honoree

What can design do to promote peace? Isella Ramirez of Hester Street discusses their strategies for making communities be heard.

Advocacy
Community Development
Housing

45 | Finding Nature Beneath our Feet

Podcast

Social Design Circle Honoree

Can a city work as an ecosystem? Nance Klehm shares her experiences as a ‘radical ecologist’ and her strategies for helping cities connect with nature.

Environment

48 | Nurturing Collective Imagination in Rome

Podcast

Social Design Circle Honoree

Does design create politics or vice versa? Lorenzo Romito of Stalker discusses the ‘territory’ of architecture and how it can be expanded.

Advocacy
Environment
Urban Strategies

49 | Designing the Politics of the City

Podcast

Social Design Circle Honoree

Does design create politics or vice versa? Vera and Ruedi Baur of Civic City discuss how graphic design can be a tool of political change.

Advocacy

51 | Collective Mapping as a Tool for Social Change

Podcast

Social Design Circle Honoree

Does design create politics or vice versa? Iconoclasistas discusses the practice of collective mapping and how it can be mobilized to achieve social justice.

Community Development
Urban Strategies

65 | Data, Design and Social Practice

Podcast

How do we design resistance? Laura Kurgan of the Center for Spatial Research joins us to talk about how data and the design of data systems can be applied to social justice.

Advocacy

66-67 | Fronts: Security in the Developing World, Part 1 & 2

Podcast

How do we design resistance? Ersela Kripa and Stephen Mueller of Agency Architecture reveal their global projects on urbanism and resistance.

Advocacy

Arquitecturas Colectivas

Social Design Circle Honoree

How can global practices and individuals share ways to effect change within the built environment? Arquitecturas Colectivas is a massive, open-source network interested in the participatory construction of the built environment. The common thread is a willingness to manipulate the fabric of the built environment.

Advocacy
Community Development

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

Center for Spatial Research

Social Design Circle Honoree

Can big data be used in the service of social justice? The Center for Spatial Research links design, architecture, urbanism and humanities with data science. Data is used in the service of justice; creating visualizations to understand cities, conflict and inequality.

Urban Strategies

Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP)

2012 Prize Winner

Video

Can design increase civic participation? The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) uses design and art to increase civic engagement. Collaborating with artist /designers, community advocates and policymakers, CUP creates simple, accessible visual explanations for civic issues.

Advocacy
Community Development

Civic City

Social Design Circle Honoree

Podcast

Can graphic arts be an agent of political change? The team of Vera & Ruedi Baur / Civic City are widely credited with launching a wave of political activism within the fields of graphic design and its allied professions.

Advocacy

Coloco

Social Design Circle Honoree

Can a city work as an ecosystem? Coloco believes landscape is an opportunity for collective thought and action. Coloco seeks to create places that can bring communities together and create new ideas among diverse populations.

Community Development
Environment
Urban Strategies

Echeverri & Fajardo

2009 Prize Winner

Video

Can improving the built environment in impoverished neighborhoods transform a city? Fajardo and Echeverri implemented a bold program in Medellín. By training architects to build parks and public buildings in impoverished neighborhoods, Medellin was transformed from “world’s deadliest city” into a vibrant, livable place.

Advocacy
Community Development
Urban Strategies

Estudio Teddy Cruz + Forman

Social Design Circle Honoree

Podcast

How can borders be places of innovation, creativity and exchange? Central to Estudio Teddy Cruz + Forman’s work is the idea that “borders” are not places to be defended, but can promote innovation and exchange.

Community Development
Urban Strategies

Hester Street Collaborative

Social Design Circle Honoree

Podcast

How can neighborhoods be shaped by the people who live in them? Hester Street works to ensure neighborhoods are shaped by the people who live in them. They offer planning, design and community development assistance to community-based organizations, government and other agencies.

Advocacy
Community Development
Housing

Iconoclasistas

Social Design Circle Honoree

Podcast

Can maps promote equality and strategies of resistance? Iconoclasistas is a Buenos Aires-based design duo. Their mission is to use cartography (maps) and other graphic arts to create new visions of historic representation, societal growth and participation.

Community Development
Urban Strategies

Inteligencias Colectivas

Social Design Circle Honoree

What happens when traditional and modern design techniques are blended? Inteligencias Colectivas focuses on the ‘fringe’ of construction practice. Between highly mechanized construction and ancient methods are blended practices with their own wisdom. Inteligencias Colectivas¬ collects, collates and shares these.

Advocacy
Community Development
Urban Strategies

Interboro

Social Design Circle Honoree

Podcast

How can designers create a more inclusive space? Interboro is an architecture, urban design, and planning firm based in Brooklyn, New York. Interboro works across scales and take a participatory, place-specific approach that builds consensus around complex projects.

Advocacy
Community Development
Urban Strategies

Interbreeding Field

Social Design Circle Honoree

Can Design Reclaim Public Space? Interbreeding Field is a Taiwanese educational program that creates installations in and about public space. Interbreeding Field’s work makes provocative commentary on how a space should or could be used.

Community Development
Urban Strategies

Jonathan Kirschenfeld

Social Design Circle Honoree

Podcast

Can excellent design be for everyone? Jonathan Kirschenfeld Architect PC has designed numerous supportive housing projects in New York, each combining housing with social services intended to help residents transcend chronic homelessness.

Housing

L’Oeuf

Social Design Circle Honoree

What is the definition of sustainability? Montreal-based L’Oeuf is known for sustainable architecture, urban housing and renovation. It emphasizes building community over building buildings; the interplay between building, occupant and environment inspires innovation.

Environment
Housing

Museo dell’Altro e dell’Altrove di Metropoliz

Social Design Circle Honoree

Can a former salami factory be a home, gallery, film set and a commentary on eviction? Museo dell’Altro e dell’Altrove di Metropoliz is simultaneously a gallery, film project, home for 200 displaced people and a profound social and political commentary on a common problem: eviction.

Advocacy
Community Development

Nance Klehm

Social Design Circle Honoree

Podcast

Can a city work as an ecosystem? “Radical ecologist” Nance Klehm fosters awareness of how plants and animals coexist. She is an ecological systems designer, landscaper, horticultural consultant and permacultural grower focused on soil, ecology and community.

Environment

Raumlabor Berlin

Social Design Circle Honoree

If utopia eluded us, what’s next? Raumlabor Berlin practices “research-based design.” Their practice intersects city planning, architecture, art and urban intervention. Central to their work are projects that disrupt a community’s notions about space.

Community Development
Urban Strategies

Stalker

Social Design Circle Honoree

Podcast

Does design create politics or vice versa? Stalker is a collective of artists, architects, activists and others whose work focuses on the margins of the city.

Advocacy
Community Development
Environment
Urban Strategies

STEALTH.unlimited

Social Design Circle Honoree

What are the limits of architectural practice? STEALTH.unlimited challenges notions about architectural practice by connecting arts, urban research, cultural activism and interventions. They have a particular focus on ‘common’ spaces shared by both the private and the public.

Advocacy
Community Development
Urban Strategies

studioBASAR

Social Design Circle Honoree

Can design reconcile the legacy of brutal authoritarianism and the new forces of the market? studioBASAR is an architectural office and a “Search and Rescue” team conducting urban observation and intervention. It searches for overlooked urban conditions. Then the ‘rescue’ encompasses architectural interventions.

Community Development
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.

What is Social Impact Design?
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