Goonj is a non­governmental organization based in Delhi and founded by Anshu Gupta in 1998. The organization follows a simple model: it uses cloth as a form of currency which can be traded for works directed at community improvement.

Urban­Think Tank discusses their urban strategy and how they work against structural inequality in cities.

Urban­Think Tank discusses their urban strategy and how they work against structural inequality in cities.

The Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI) is a non­profit design and community development organization based in Los Angeles, CA and Nairobi, Kenya. Throughout Africa, Latin America and the U.S., their work emphasizes an extensive process of community engagement whichreveals underlying systemic needs in a particular community and subsequently enlist ...…

Interboro and Ecosistema Urbano get tactical and walk our hosts through the nuts and bolts of how they do their work.

EXYZT and Basurama detail new ways to think about public space.

EXYZT and Basurama tell us strategies for how to take over public space.

Ecosistema Urbano & Interboro share their stories about how they shaped their practices around public space.

Project Row Houses (PRH) is a neighborhood ­based nonprofit art and cultural organization. It is located in Houston’s Northern Third Ward, one of the city’s oldest African­ American communities. PRH was founded in 1993 by Rick Lowe, an artist and community activist.At the urging of some local high school students, Lowe and a coalition of other ...…

Building community Workshop (or bcWORKSHOP) uses collaborative design strategies to address housing crises in poverty­stricken Texas communities. The group seeks to improve the livability of communities through disaster reconstruction, smart infill, and green infrastructure programs.Founded in 2005 by Brent Brown, bcWORKSHOP has undertaken mult ...…

Building community Workshop (or bcWORKSHOP) uses collaborative design strategies to address housing crises in poverty­stricken Texas communities. The group seeks to improve the livability of communities through disaster reconstruction, smart infill, and green infrastructure programs.Founded in 2005 by Brent Brown, bcWORKSHOP has undertaken mult ...…

Sergio Palleroni has been a long­ standing leader, thinker, practitioner and educator in the field of social impact design. Palleroni has taught at the University of Washington Seattle, University of Texas Austin, and is currently a professor at Portland State University, where he founded and now leads the Center for Public Interest Design.…

Sergio Palleroni has been a long­ standing leader, thinker, practitioner and educator in the field of social impact design. Palleroni has taught at the University of Washington Seattle, University of Texas Austin, and is currently a professor at Portland State University, where he founded and now leads the Center for Public Interest Design.…

Eric Cesal and Emiliano Gandolfi, co-hosts of Social Design Insights, are interviewed by SDI Producer Baruch Zeichner.

GeoHazards International (GHI) is a California based non-profit which works to bring the best practices in seismic safety from the developed world to the developing world. GHI was founded in 1991 by geologist Brian Tucker. Tucker had been raised in California, and as the state geologist there, he was acutely aware of both the earthquake hazards ...…

Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha is a Bangladeshi NGO founded by Mohammed Rezwan in 1998, with the mission to bring education and improved livelihoods to rural communities in northwestern Bangladesh. Most of northwestern Bangladesh is a delta, and as climate change advances, rural communities are increasingly threatened by rising waters. During mon ...…

Build Change is a Denver-based non-profit that promotes disaster-resilient construction methods in earthquake and typhoon-prone areas of the developing world. Using simple, culturally appropriate, and cost-effective retrofitting techniques, Build Change has overseen the reconstruction of thousands of homes, often revitalizing entire neighborhoo ...…

The Heritage Foundation of Pakistan is a Pakistani non-profit with a wide array of social programming, and is here celebrated for their work on disaster recovery and prevention.The Foundation was established in 1980 by Yasmeen Lari and her husband Suhail Zaheer Lari. Prior to her work with the Foundation, Yasmeen Lari established Lari Associate ...…

Active Social Architecture (ASA) is a Kigali-based architecture practice that works on sustainable design and contemporary re-elaborations of vernacular Rwandan architecture, with a special focus on spaces for children and infants. While ASA is a commercial practice, most of their clientele consists of international relief agencies and NGOs, in ...…

Al Borde is a collaborative and experimental architecture studio that uses participatory processes to engage people who are living on the margin of society, whether in the remote coastal regions of Ecuador or in the informal settlements of Latin America’s major cities. Their work is known for extreme affordability – one of their most notable sc ...…

Founded by Giancarlo Mazzanti, El Equipo Mazzanti is a Colombian Architecture firm which has risen to international prominence as part of the “Medellin Miracle,” a program and period of extensive urban renewal in Medellin, Colombia. Led by Mayor Sergio Fajardo (2002-2007), the movement saw the city transformed from a violent, segmented past int ...…

We continue our discussion with John and Emily about what role design can play in challenging rising economic and social inequality.

John Peterson and Emily Pilloton share their practices and discuss how design can subvert structural inequality.

The Paris based firm of Lacaton & Vassal is widely known for the restoration and rehabilitation of older Modernist housing blocks in Paris, Saint-Nazarre and Bordeaux.Founded by Anne Lacaton & Jean Phillipe Vassal, Lacaton & Vassal made headlines in 2004 with the publication of a manifesto: PLUS:Large Scale housing Development- an Exceptional C ...…

The Asian Coalition is a broad coalition of grassroots organizations, NGOs, architects and engineers currently working in 215 cities across Asia. ACHR was established in 1988 in response to public evictions in South Korea before the Summer Olympics; the founders started ACHR to advocate or squatters and impoverished communities that face evicti ...…

Jonathan Kirschenfeld is a noted New York architect widely known for his leadership in social housing design. Kirschenfeld is the founder and principle of Jonathan Kirschenfeld Architect PC, a firm specializing in environmentally and socially sustainable urban housing, childcare, recreation, and performance facilities. He was the recipient of t ...…

Jonathan Kirschenfeld is a noted New York architect widely known for his leadership in social housing design. Kirschenfeld is the founder and principle of Jonathan Kirschenfeld Architect PC, a firm specializing in environmentally and socially sustainable urban housing, childcare, recreation, and performance facilities. He was the recipient of t ...…

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. Recetas Urbanas was founded in 2004 to promote the well-being of city residents against a bureaucratic framework that favored investment and development over communi ...…

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. In Bogota, as elsewhere, the formal structures of the city have not always kept up with the pace of urbanization. The process has given ...…

Mark Lakeman is the founder and executive director of the City Repair Project in Portland, OR. For twenty years, the City Repair Project has ignited grassroots activism around a passion for place-making. Organized in 1996, the City Repair Project has steadily grown and has spawned [imitators] in numerous cities across the U.S. and the world.In ...…

Founded by Teddy Cruz in 2000, Estudio Teddy Cruz + Forman has been at the vanguard of evolving urban practice. Cruz is an american architect, urbanist, and educator, currently teaching at the University of California, San Diego. Fonna Forman is a noted political scientist who joined the practice in 2010.Together, Cruz and Forman have pushed a ...…

Founded by Teddy Cruz in 2000, Estudio Teddy Cruz + Forman has been at the vanguard of evolving urban practice. Cruz is an american architect, urbanist, and educator, currently teaching at the University of California, San Diego. Fonna Forman is a noted political scientist who joined the practice in 2010.Together, Cruz and Forman have pushed a ...…