Resources

A collection of written materials, audio recordings, and videos along with a list of exemplary projects and organizations serves as a companion to the Framework for Actions. While by no means complete and exhaustive, the collection is intended to serve as a window to the expanding discourses and practices of design activism in planning and design.

Social Design Insights is a weekly podcast produced by the Curry Stone Design Award. Each episode explores different ways in which guest designers deal with social justice issues through design ... (more)
Social Design Insights is a weekly podcast produced by the Curry Stone Design Prize. Through conversation with leading designers, it provides insights into innovative projects and practices that use design ... (more)
With the help of ArchDaily in Santiago, Chile, assistant professor Shawhin Roudbari explores how architects and designers engage in a community and introduce political engagement in design on a global ... (more)
Sole Food Street Farms is an urban farming project in Vancouver, British Columbia that provides low-income residents with “jobs, agricultural training, and inclusion.” Many of these community members are recovering ... (more)
This article is about the use of innovative storytelling in participatory design processes. It highlights two techniques designed to engage community members in imagining futures and collectively constructing the public ... (more)
The Sustainable City Year Program (SCYP) is a year-long collaboration between University of Oregon and various stakeholders including Oregon city, county, special district, tribe, and other governmental partnerships. In the ... (more)
Winston Dong is the founding principal of a planning and design firm, Benchmark38. In this Tedx talk, Winston focused on how design in landscape architecture shapes our society and the ... (more)
In this episode of the blog, UC Berkeley architect Ronald Rael tells the story of him and the seesaw. As he hobbled the bright pink seesaw to the us-mexico border ... (more)
The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) is a nonprofit organization based in New York City with a national audience. The CUP uses the power of design and art to increase ... (more)
To honor those who declared interdependence before us, Randy Hester discusses our responsibility to sustain ecological democracy and attempt to achieve sustainable happiness. This video explores all the components and ... (more)
An essay by planner and Place It! founder James Rojas. From James, "This essay explores how my personal experiences with African Americans and space helped me develop Place It! which ... (more)
The Eastern Coachella Valley Productive Public Space Network is an extension of the tools used in the Kibera Public Space Project by Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI). California's Eastern Coachella Valley ... (more)
In this episode of WNYC podcast, Nandini Bagchee discusses her book Counter Institution: Activist Estates of the Lower East Side. The book intersects architecture, urban design practice, geography and cartography ... (more)
This collection of essays honors the diverse perspectives of architects, mayors, artists, doctors, designers and scholars, philanthropists, ecologists, urban planners and community activists from 22 cities across five continents. The ... (more)
Kounkuey Design Initative (KDI) works at the intersection of design and social justice. They view design as a process and a means to a solution rather than a product. Their ... (more)
The UMass Amherst Design Center, located at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, focuses on the challenges of communities in Massachusetts. They use research, and a wide range of planning and ... (more)
Artist and activist Theaster Gates noticed many issues, such as neglected infrastructure and abandonment of buildings, in his neighborhood in Chicago. With his artistic background, Gates began to revive abandoned ... (more)
Tiny WPA strives to expand and empower community design leaders, in order to act as a national model for engaging people of all ages in community-based design. Their Building Hero ... (more)
Traction started working with their first community in 2009, at the informal urban settlement of Lomas de Zapallal in Lima, Peru. They also started working with the University of Washington, ... (more)
Traction is an interdisciplinary design and research nonprofit that collaborates with at-risk communities to implement participatory design interventions. Claverito is a floating informal community in Iquitos, Peru located on the ... (more)
The University of Arkansas Community Design Center (UACDC) started as an outreach center in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, with a focus on rural development. The center ... (more)
Kate Orff discusses the need for meaningful landscape design to respond to current issues such as climate change.  She believes in taking a stand in making landscape architecture "promulgate new ... (more)
The UW Community Design Extension is a cooperative university extension at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. A cooperative extension is a linkage between universities providing research-based knowledge to communities that ... (more)
Founded by designer Bernhard Lenger, the 'We Are Human Rights' project is a collaboration between designers and human rights defenders to explore how design can support activists. There are currently ... (more)