Environment

Should designers be outlaws? Mark Lakeman of the City Repair Project discusses motives and methods for igniting neighborhood change, street by street.

Community Development
Environment

102 | Putting Humans at the Center of Design

Design at the Intersection of Technology and Humanity Daniel Feldman and Adam Reineck of Ideo.org join us to talk about human-centered design.

Community Development
Environment
Healthcare

117 | What a Great Time to Be Alive

Crisis in Climate, Crisis in Design Eric Corey Freed award-winning American architect, author, speaker and green strategist, joins us to talk about the state of the union in green design.

Environment

119 | Redesigning Our Relationship with the Earth

Crisis in Climate, Crisis in Design Starhawk is an author, activist, permaculture designer and teacher, and a prominent voice in modern earth-based spirituality and ecofeminism.

Environment

120 | Beyond Green Design

Crisis in Climate, Crisis in Design Mary Ann Lazarus is an American architect and longtime leader in the field of sustainable design.

Environment

121 | Buildings Made of Sky

Crisis in Climate, Crisis in Design Bruce King, PE, natural building advocate, joins us to discuss his new book “The New Carbon Architecture: Building to Cool the Planet”

Environment
Housing
Urban Strategies

122 | Imagining New Futures for the Planet

Crisis in Climate, Crisis in Design Alex Steffen is an award-winning writer, speaker and foresight consultant, focused on climate change and planetary sustainability.

Environment

123 | Design’s Race & Rescue Mission

Crisis in Climate, Crisis in Design Dr. Ken Yeang is a Malaysian architect, ecologist, planner and author celebrated for both his built & theoretical work in green urbanism.

Environment

124 | Five Things About Social Impact Design

What Now for Social Impact Design? Our Special Projects Director Eric J. Cesal is a designer, writer, noted post-disaster expert, and podcast host.

Environment

17 | Mitigating Climate-Based Disaster Before it Strikes

Can design prevent disaster? Mohammed Rezwan of Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha details his designs for floating communities.

Advocacy
Community Development
Environment

19-20 | The Trajectory of Social Design, Part 1 & 2

Can we design community engagement? Sergio Palleroni discusses his thirty year career in Social Impact Design

Community Development
Environment
Housing

26 | Making Public Space Productive

Can design reclaim public space? Chelina Odbert and Jennifer Toy of the Kounkuey Design Initiative share their thoughts on how to engage community.

Community Development
Environment

31 | Clothing, Currency and Community

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

32 | Slum Networking, Explained.

Can we design a slum-friendly city? Himanshu Parikh discusses the evolution of cities and slums, and how a historicist read can lead us to new engineering innovations.

Environment
Healthcare
Housing

33-34 | Finding Plenty in a World of Scarcity, Part 1 & 2

How do we design with scarcity? Line Ramstad discusses the origin of Gyaw Gyaw and introduces their methods.

Community Development
Environment

37 | Finding Holistic Design Through History

How do we design with scarcity? Yatin Pandya discusses his philosophy of ‘holistic design’ and how he seeks new solutions for India’s future.

Environment
Housing

42-43 | A Green Vision for the Future of Cities Part 1 & 2

Can a city work as an ecosystem? Gail Vittori and Pliny Fisk introduce our hosts to their work, thinking at multiple scales about how to live & work ecologically.

Advocacy
Environment

44 | The Blue Economy of the Future

Can a city work as an ecosystem? Jan Jongert of Superuse Studios shares experiences in designing new forms of ecology within the city.

Community Development
Environment

45 | Finding Nature Beneath our Feet

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

46 | Gardening as Urban Action

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.

Community Development
Environment

48 | Nurturing Collective Imagination in Rome

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

55-56 | Designing for the Future, Part 1 & 2

How do we democratize design? Diébédo Francis Kéré discusses the origins of his practice, and how good design builds community.

Community Development
Environment

75 | New Forms of Design Education for New Forms of Cities

Can design education promote social justice? Christian Benimana is a senior principal and managing director at Mass Design. He also is the founder of the African Design Center.

Advocacy
Environment
Urban Strategies

81 | The Resiliency of Right Now

Is Resilience Still Relevant? Zander Rose of the Long Now Foundation speaks with us about how designers can design better by thinking differently about time.

Advocacy
Environment
Resilience

91 | Designing with Love

Who Designs the Designers? Katie Swenson is a nationally recognized design leader, researcher, writer, and educator. Her work explores how critical design practice can and should promote economic and social equity, environmental sustainability, and healthy communities.

Advocacy
Community Development
Environment
Healthcare
Housing

97 | 2018 Year in Review

Who Designs the Designers? Emiliano Gandolfi and Eric Cesal reflect on a full year of Social Design Insights.

Advocacy
Community Development
Conflict and Disaster
Environment
Healthcare
Housing

Alliance of Community Trainers

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.

Advocacy
Community Development
Conflict and Disaster
Environment
Resilience
Urban Strategies

Antonio Scarponi

Are you ready to co-opt mass consumerism? Dr. Antonio Scarponi is an architect, designer, educator, and the founder of Conceptual Devices, a Zurich-based office with the mission to develop design strategies with social, economic, and poetic impact.

Environment

Auroville Earth Institute

Can traditional building techniques serve modern needs? Auroville Earth Institute (AVEI) is a pioneering organization that has led in research and implementation of earth-based & sustainable building.

Community Development
Environment

Blue Star Integrative Studio

How can design support community development? Blue Star Integrative Studio (BSIS) is a Tribally Owned, Indigenous American professional services firm in Tulsa, Oklahoma offering feasibility studies, planning, and design services. It illuminates opportunities through collaboration to support the sustainability of people, places, and the planet.

Advocacy
Environment
Housing

BuildX Studio (formerly Orkidstudio)

How do we design with scarcity? BuildX Studio (formerly Orkidstudio) is a Nairobi-based architectural, engineering, and construction company creating real estate projects for positive social and environmental impact.

Advocacy
Environment

Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems

How is consideration of the full life cycle of products a means to achieve sustainability? The Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems designs systems that identify and utilize the full life cycle of products, buildings and regions, resulting in smarter and more sustainable practices.

Advocacy
Environment

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.

Community Development
Environment

Coloco

Can a city work as an ecosystem? Coloco is a collective of landscapers, artists, urban planners, and botanists working in a variety of mediums including mapping, physical gardening, and advocacy.

Community Development
Environment
Urban Strategies

Ctrl+Z

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.

Community Development
Environment
Urban Strategies

Earth Activist Training

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.

Community Development
Environment
Resilience
Urban Strategies

Fallen Fruit

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.

Community Development
Environment

Francis Kéré

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.

Community Development
Environment

Goonj

How can donated clothing be translated into community renewal? Goonj is a non-governmental organization based in Delhi since 1998 which undertakes poverty alleviation work, using the city's discard as material to fuel widespread development work across village India.

Advocacy
Community Development
Environment

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.

Community Development
Environment

Himanshu Parikh

What happens when gravity replaces modern technology as a tool to design urban infrastructure? Himanshu Parikh is an Indian engineer who developed of the concept of ‘slum networking,’ which stems from how the traditional organization of cities was based on natural features such as topography and gravity.

Environment
Healthcare
Housing

Hsieh Ying-Chun

2011 Prize Winner

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.

Community Development
Conflict and Disaster
Environment

Hunnarshala

2013 Prize Winner

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

Kounkuey Design Initiative

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.

Community Development
Environment

L’Oeuf

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

Lorenzo Romito

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

Environment
Urban Strategies

Marjetica Potrč

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.

Community Development
Environment

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.

Advocacy
Community Development
Environment

Nance Klehm

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

Open Source Ecology

What are the fifty machines essential to modern life—and can their designs be open-sourced? Open Source Ecology is dedicated to an open-source economy. At their core are plans for fifty fundamental machines; what is required to create a small, modern civilization.

Environment

Plan Selva

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.

Community Development
Environment

Prinzessinnengärten

Why should citizens and activists reclaim public space? Prinzessinnengärten is a bottom-up community garden in Berlin notable for both its scale and its ingenuity in starting a public conversation about the democratic use of public space.

Community Development
Environment

Sanergy

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

Sergio Palleroni

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.

Community Development
Environment

Shawn Frayne

Can wind energy be harnessed with a handheld device? Shawn Frayne invented a nonturbine wind-powered generator that [could] help people in poor communities power lamps, keep small vaccine refrigerators cool and charge cell phones for relatively little cost.

Environment

Stalker

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

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.

Environment

TAMassociati/Emergency

2013 Prize Winner

How can architecture bring dignity in war-torn regions? Studio TAMassociati is a nonprofit architecture firm that specializes in designing healthcare facilities in war-torn areas, highlighting the connection between the built environment and the basic needs of life.

Community Development
Environment

Transition Network

2009 Prize Winner

Can your neighborhood become a self-sufficient community? The Transition Network is an organization whose role is to inspire, encourage, connect, support, and train communities as they create initiatives that rebuild resilience and reduce CO2 emissions.

Community Development
Environment

Wes Janz

How can designers address poverty in American cities? Dr. Wesley Janz is a Professor Emeritus of Architecture at Ball State University, Indiana and the founder of OneSmallProject. Currently, he is working to draw attention to the issues central to the U.S. prison system.

Advocacy
Environment
Housing
Urban Strategies

YA + K

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.

Community Development
Environment

Yatin Pandya