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.
Should designers be outlaws? Mark Lakeman of the City Repair Project discusses motives and methods for igniting neighborhood change, street by street.
Should designers be outlaws? Arquitectura Expandida discusses its approach to working in informal communities alongside (and sometimes around) government.
Should designers be outlaws? Santiago Cirugeda - Spain’s 'Guerrilla Architect’ - explains how he challenges urban authority and makes neighborhoods work for everyone.
Can design challenge inequality? John Peterson and Emily Pilloton share their practices and discuss how design can subvert structural inequality.
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.
Design at the Intersection of Technology and Humanity Hal Aronson, Ph.D, is the Director of Technology and Education and the co-founder of WE CARE Solar – an organization working to provide light & power to medical facilities across the developing world.
Design at the Intersection of Technology and Humanity Daniel Feldman and Adam Reineck of Ideo.org join us to talk about human-centered design.
Engaging + Reframing the 'Refugee' Crisis Kilian Kleinschmidt of IPA/Swixtboard is an internationally regarded expert in international development, emergency response, and resource mobilization.
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.
Engaging + Reframing the 'Refugee' Crisis Mariam Chazalnoel of IOM joins us to discuss how to advance the topic of migration within the current Climate Change dialogue
Engaging + Reframing the 'Refugee' Crisis The Refugee Academy is a Berlin-based non-profit that creates learning spaces for refugees seeking to assimilate.
Engaging + Reframing the 'Refugee' Crisis Tasha Freidus of NeedsList joins us to discuss tech solutions to humanitarian crises.
Engaging + Reframing the 'Refugee' Crisis Rania Qawasma of Architecture for Refugees joins us to discuss what designers can do to help welcome refugees.
Can design challenge inequality? Giancarlo Mazzanti shares his thoughts on transforming Medellin and how great architecture can bring neighborhoods together.
Can design challenge inequality? David Barragán of Al Borde discusses how design can empower a community to become their own designers & builders.
Can design challenge inequality? Active Social Architecture is a Kigali-based architecture practice that designs and builds contemporary re-elaborations of vernacular Rwandan architecture.
Can design prevent disaster? Mohammed Rezwan of Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha details his designs for floating communities.
Can we design community engagement? Sergio Palleroni discusses his thirty year career in Social Impact Design
Can we design community engagement? Brent Brown of bcWORKSHOP tells us how they serve marginalized communities in the Rio Grande Valley.
Can we design community engagement? Project Row Houses is a neighborhood based nonprofit art and cultural organization working on grassroots development in Houston’s 3rd ward.
Can design reclaim public space? Ecosistema Urbano & Interboro share their stories about how they shaped a practice around public space.
Can design reclaim public space? Chelina Odbert and Jennifer Toy of the Kounkuey Design Initiative share their thoughts on how to engage community.
Can we design a slum-friendly city? Urban-Think Tank discusses their urban strategy and how they work against structural inequality in cities.
Can we design a slum-friendly city? Anshu Gupta of Goonj discusses his unique methodology for community development: clothes as currency.
How do we design with scarcity? Line Ramstad discusses the origin of Gyaw Gyaw and introduces their methods.
How do we design with scarcity? Dean Still of Aprovecho talks to us about the history of Aprovecho and their work to improve cookstove technology.
What can design do to promote peace? Isella Ramirez of Hester Street discusses their strategies for making communities be heard.
What can design do to promote peace? Malkit Shoshan of the Foundation for Achieving Seamless Territory discusses the architecture of conflict.
Can a city work as an ecosystem? Jan Jongert of Superuse Studios shares experiences in designing new forms of ecology within the city.
Can a city work as an ecosystem? Marco Clausen of Prinzessinnengärten discusses how they came to pioneer a form of mobile gardening, and the positive impacts it has had on their city.
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.
Does design create politics or vice versa? Iconoclasistas discusses the practice of collective mapping and how it can be mobilized to achieve social justice.
How do we democratize design? John Fetterman of Braddock, PA, shares his thoughts on how to imagine a new future in a post-industrial landscape.
How do we democratize design? Diébédo Francis Kéré discusses the origins of his practice, and how good design builds community.
How can cities be reimagined by their citizens? Two central figures in public art and community building unveil how they help communities take control of their own futures.
Is Resilience Still Relevant? Mathew Sanders details the pioneering struggle of the people of Isle de Jean Charles in confronting climate change.
Is Resilience Still Relevant? Architect Hsieh Ying-Chun joins host Eric Cesal to talk about how people can power rebuilding after disaster.
Is Resilience Still Relevant? Mario and Nuno do Rosario discuss the history of design in Mozambique from Independence to the present-day.
Is Resilience Still Relevant? As the world faces a rising tide of disasters and climate-induced migration, there are serious questions as to whether the design community is prepared to offer solutions meaningful to the crises humanity faces.
Is Resilience Still Relevant? By the middle of this century, up to 300 million people will be displaced by climate change and climate change disasters. What is the ethical role of designers in adapting the built environment to such changes?
Is Resilience Still Relevant? We had a chance to speak with Marcin Jakubowski on Social Design Insights, where he and our host Eric Cesal spoke about the future of agriculture, industry, and how to make more evolved humans.
Who Designs the Designers? Jason Schupbach is the director of The Design School at the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University. There, he’s undertaking an ambitious effort to ‘redesign design school,’ looking for ways to create a design school for the 21st century.
Who Designs the Designers? Swenson is currently undertaking a Loeb Fellowship at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where she studies the role of love as an animus for design – asking how our cities and neighborhoods might look if we accepted love as the primary motivator of design.
Who Designs the Designers? For twenty years, the Prince Claus Fund and the Prince Claus Award has supported cultural development and practice in Latin America, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe. The Fund supports artists and practitioners from many different fields, ranging from artists, to architects and cartoonists.
Who Designs the Designers? Orkidstudio is a social enterprise based in Nairobi, Kenya, which focuses not only on the design of great buildings, but on the design of design & construction processes in ways that promote equity, inclusion, and social development.
Who Designs the Designers? Kyle Reis is widely known throughout the philanthropic world as a champion of social design.
Who Designs the Designers? Katie Crepeau joins us to talk about the challenges of starting and growing a social design practice.
Who Designs the Designers? Emiliano Gandolfi and Eric Cesal reflect on a full year of Social Design Insights.
Design at the Intersection of Technology and Humanity Ken Banks is the author of two books on social innovation and entrepreneurship: The Rise of the Reluctant Innovator, and Musings of a Mobile Anthropologist: Tales of Technology, Anthropology, Conservation and Development.
Design at the Intersection of Technology and Humanity D-Rev, a nonprofit product development company based in San Francisco designs, develops and distributes radically affordable world-class medical products
Does school design have value beyond creating a place to educate children? Kigali based Active Social Architecture (ASA) builds schools. Its designs contribute to the child’s growth and stimulation and the schools are conspicuously situated, providing symbolic value for the entire community.
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.
Can design increase civic engagement? The Alliance of Community Trainers works with communities to create a shared vision and to empower communities with tools for problem solving, conflict resolution, alternative technology, environmental sustainability and more.
Is sustainability about working within scarcity or finding natural abundance? Studio Anna Heringer is a leader in architecture using low-tech, natural materials, often in collaboration with local community craftspeople. The resulting structures are beautiful, resilient and sustainable.
Are open source, global standards for clean, efficient cook stoves possible? Cooking with wood and charcoal causes health and climate challenges. US based Aprovecho pioneers designs for clean, efficient stoves and develops open source technology and testing used around the globe.
What is the role of architects in communities in need? Cameron Sinclair and Kate Stohr, recipients of the first Curry Stone Design Prize Vision Award, have been committed to social impact design since co-founding Architecture for Humanity in 1999.
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.
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.
Can design reclaim public space? Asiye eTafuleni is a South African NGO set up to support informal traders, market vendors, and others who use public space in their work.
Can traditional building techniques serve modern needs? Auroville Earth Institute leads in the research and implementation of earth-based & sustainable building. Their work inspires groups all over the world to take up the practice of sustainable building.
How can a women-led culinary school promote peace and understanding? Bait al Karama, Palestinian Nablus’ first women’s center, combines a culinary social enterprise with cultural activities. Translated as “House of Dignity,” it is located in an area devastated by conflict.
Can the rural poor attain self-sufficiency through design? The Barefoot College is a groundbreaking Indian social organization with an international reach. It supports the rural poor, especially women, in attaining self-sufficiency by tapping their wisdom, skills and resourcefulness.
Can architects build community as well as buildings? bcWORKSHOP works in neighborhoods lacking access to designers. Its programs are committed to building community and begin by acknowledging that social structure is the best guide to designing physical structures.
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.
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.
Can community engagement be cultivated using artistic expression? The Chautauqua Poets & Writers features award-winning writers who bring the community together with their insights.
How can public space be reclaimed to forge stronger communities? The City Repair Project addresses America’s lack of outdoor community hubs by supporting neighborhoods in creatively re-purposing public areas such as road intersections into gathering spaces.
Is there an alternative to a top down, hierarchical civic design process? Collectif Etc is a French design collective that challenges top down, hierarchical civic design. All stakeholders, from experts to the citizens themselves have a role—and a voice.
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.
Should disaster victims be empowered to create their own recovery? Communitere is an international disaster nonprofit operating that creates dynamic, collaborative hubs in communities affected by disaster, empowering residents to take an active role in their own recovery.
Is architecture more about community participation than materials? Ctrl+Z Architecture practices collaborative, participatory, self-construction initiatives throughout the world. It believes that at its heart, architecture is more about interaction with communities than specific materials or approaches.
Can Design Challenge Inequality? The Detroit Collaborative Design Center (DCDC) is a multi-disciplinary non-profit architecture and urban design firm. Its mission is to help revive the urban landscape of Detroit through innovative design and collaborative community practices.
Can we design education for environmental sustainability? Author, activist and founder Starhawk offers Earth Activist Training in permaculture, nature awareness, earth based spirituality and more for individuals, teachers and community groups.
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.
Why is all architecture social? Colombian architectural firm El Equipo Mazzanti blurs the lines between “social design” and traditional practice. In Medellin, its work was part of the extensive renewal known as the “Medellin Miracle.”
Can public housing be designed to encourage resident ownership? Elemental is a Chilean architectural firm that rose to prominence by building low income urban dwellers “half a good house,” that residents could complete on their own.
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.
What if our cities become places that grow natural resources for anyone to share? The art collective Fallen Fruit plants fruit trees in public spaces for everyone to share. They invite citizens to re-imagine public participation, urban space and the meaning of community.
Can rejuvenation through art transform a forgotten town? Farm Cultural Park is an organically conceived art-driven revitalization of the formerly abandoned center of Favara, Sicily. Visitors explore galleries, shops and cafes. Building exteriors are canvases for artists.
Is there a relationship between architecture, planning, politics and human rights? The Foundation for Achieving Seamless Territory (FAST) is a think tank founded from a desire to spark a discussion about how political powers use architecture and architects to implement ideological agendas.
Can an architect truly straddle both first world success and community development in the developing world? Diébédo Francis Kéré is a Burkinabe architect based in Berlin, Germany, whose work straddles community development in the developing world and award-winning architecture in the first world.
Can SMS technology be harnessed as a powerful information dissemination tool? Frontline SMS is software that acts as an information dissemination service for text messages. It uses cell service not internet access to create communication networks and exchange information.
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.
How can the community be integrated into the rebuilding process? Established in Biloxi, Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina, to provide design services to devastated communities in the Mississippi Gulf Coast, GCCDS' services today include support for long-term sustainability and community prosperity.
Can architecture help stateless people put down roots? Gyaw Gyaw works with the vulnerable Karen people at the Myanmar/Thai border. It reduces their dependence on foreign aid via resilient, low cost, architectural projects built with community input.
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.
How can a community contribute to a post-disaster rebuilding process? Hsieh Ying-Chun is a Taiwanese architect who works throughout Asia training villagers to build locally-appropriate dwellings in response to earthquake devastation.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Can DIY harvesting of rainwater solve a water crisis? Isla Urbana has engaged the ongoing water crisis in Mexico City by developing rainwater harvesting kits that are affordable and easy to install.
How can a town decimated by globalization be revitalized? John Fetterman is an American politician who, as Mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania, led the urban rejuvenation of a post-industrial city.
How can conversation with residents and deep engagement lead to community empowerment? The non-profit Kounkuey Design Initiative is based in Los Angeles, CA and Nairobi, Kenya. Using extensive community engagement, it reveals systemic needs and enlists the community in constructing solutions.
Can high quality, affordable housing be created in fringe areas of a city? With diverse and flexible housing types, participatory planning processes, and energy-efficient designs, Kraftwerk1 has proven that it’s possible to create high-quality affordable housing schemes in fringe areas of a city.
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.
Can a community be built with sand? Luyanda Mpahlwa is part of a vanguard re-envisioning South Africa’s post-apartheid architectural landscape. Mpahlwa pioneered a new style of architecture, integrating and elevating African-inspired design in rural and urban settings.
Can participatory design inspire sustainable prosperity? Marjetica Potrč is an artist and architect who works on community-based projects characterized by participatory design and a concern for sustainability.
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.
How can we democratize currency? Means of Exchange is working on the reinvention of exchange currencies using local community currencies, shared resource platforms, crowdfunding and more.
How can design help flood prone communities to function when facilities and resources are under water? Mohammaed Rezwan and his organization Shindulai Swanivar Sangsthata operates a fleet of floating schools, libraries and health clinics that help people overcome the challenges of living in flood-prone northwest Bangladesh.
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.
Can design increase civic engagement? Open Architecture Collaborative works through participatory engagement and by fostering grassroots design coalitions to build power within underserved communities.
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.
How can design address the problem of education for internally neglected communities? Plan Selva is the Peruvian Education Ministry’s plan to bring quality education to remote regions. The result self-empowers indigenous people to cultivate their knowledge and live productively in the Amazon.
Why should citizens and activists reclaim public space? Prinzessinnengärten is a community garden initiative that is leading conversations about public space. Its belief is that as cities grow, they must develop sustainable ways of eating, living and moving.
Can design challenge inequality? Project H Design is a Berkeley-based design education non-profit focused on developing leadership skills for youth through design-build courses.
Can artists create solutions instead of just social commentary? Located in Houston’s Northern Third Ward, Project Row Houses believes artists can catalyze social change and that art community are integrally linked– neither is viable without the other.
Can design help raise the income of small hold farmers in Myanmar? Proximity Designs is a sustainable development group that works to improve the lives of the rural poor in Myanmar.
How can standard design firms be supported in pro-bono work? San Francisco based Public Architecture formalizes pro bono service within architecture, interiors and landscape design. Their flagship program, 1+, supports firms in donating 1% of their time to pro-bono work.
How can neighborhood residents reassert control over their own futures? Public Works is a London-based critical design nonprofit straddling architecture, art, performance and activism. It addresses the challenges of urbanism, seeking ways that communities can reassert control over their futures.
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.
How can citizens take planning into their own hands? Santiago Cirugeda is the founder and principal of Recetas Urbanas (Urban Recipes), a design & advocacy collective of architects, lawyers and social workers based in Seville, Spain.
Can refugees be a national asset? Berlin’s The Refugee Academy responds to the influx of refugees into Germany. Their work is about designing new ways to think about migration.
Can anyone repair everyday objects? The Repair Café is both an organization and a global network of cafés that emphasize the repair of everyday objects in order to promote a culture of sustainability and reuse.
How do we design with scarcity? Oaxaca City Mexico based Root Studio is a multidisciplinary design studio that uses locally sourced materials and techniques to create structures and housing for communities in need.
Can we design community engagement? The Rural Studio is a groundbreaking off-campus designbuild program of Auburn University. Founded in 1993 by D.K. Ruth and Samuel Mockbee, the program established a new breed of community-based design education.
Can design address China’s rural to urban migration? Imbalances caused by rural to urban migrations is an urgent geopolitical issue. In China, the issue is accelerating. Rural Urban Framework (RUF) works to stabilize and rebuild depopulated Chinese villages.
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.
Can schools address development challenges? Semillas para el Desarrollo Sostenible “Seeds for Sustainable Development” is a Peruvian nonprofit confronting development challenges, especially a lack of schools, in the Peruvian Amazon.
Can social impact design be taught? Sergio Palleroni is a leader, practitioner and educator in social impact design. In 1995, Palleroni founded the BASIC Initiative, a program that moved students from the design studio into communities.
Can the product-to-consumer supply chain be made more equitable? Slow/d is an Italian organization seeking to disrupt traditional supply chains in design by connecting designers, consumers & artisans directly.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Can art transform a nation torn apart by conflict and strife? Studios Kabako addresses post-war social memory, fear, and hope. It creates a network for artistic expression at home in the Congolese city of Kisangani and through international commissions.
How can architecture bring dignity in war-torn regions? Studio TAMassociati is a nonprofit architecture firm recognized for designing healthcare facilities in war-torn areas [...] in partnership with Emergency, an Italian NGO, that provides medical treatment to war victims.
Can we design community engagement? Theaster Gates is an artist, curator, urbanist and facilitator. His projects catalyze social engagement and political change. Gates’ studio practice works in tandem with urban interventions integrating art and community regeneration.
Can better human services be co-designed? London-based Thinkpublic is a social design agency helping improve services of public sector and nonprofit organizations. Thinkpublic’s collborative “co-design” approach identifies and addresses problems which may not have been apparent.
Can your neighborhood become a self-sufficient community? The Transition Network is a global network of communities responding to global warming and declining oil with local self-sufficiency in food, energy and more.
Can revitalizing traditional crafts bring economic stability to areas of conflict? Non profit Turquoise Mountain regenerates urban areas and stimulates the traditional craft industry in Afghanistan, Myanmar and Saudi Arabia. It revives traditional skills, creates jobs and business development opportunities.
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.
How can slum dwellers be protected against profit-minded developers? Mumbai based Urbz confronts a daunting problem: a slum’s real estate value. It fights against city planners and developers who execute a common form of slum rehabilitation-- level & relocate.
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.
Can design free the public from hierarchical constraints in society? YA + K is a French collective that seeks new ways of understanding and defining public space. Their projects focus on low-tech innovation and the creation of new economies.
