Projects

The following is a collection of projects available online on design activism and social justice through design.

Conflict Kitchen was a restaurant in Pittsburgh, PA, that cooked and served food from countries the United States was in conflict with. It was founded by Jon Rubin - an ... (more)
Fresh Moves Mobile Market is a grocery store in a city bus. Fresh, local food is driven throughout Chicago, specifically to schools, community and health centers to provide an avenue ... (more)
The project "Hacking Urban Furniture" explores the history, present and future of urban furniture in collaboration with artists, urban explorers, administrators, politicians, activists and researchers. Together they explore the potential ... (more)
The IUCI is a program based in Seattle, Peru, and Nepal that focuses on design activism, research, and education. It looks at integrated, interdisciplinary design of infrastructure and public space ... (more)
Built in 1937 in Raleigh, NC, the park underwent degradation and gentrification in the neighborhood in recent years. To better understand the needs of and place-based memories of African American ... (more)
Lafayette Park (Oakland, CA) was designed by Walter Hood in 1998 as a space for everyone, from people facing homelessness to business folk to families. Hood began this project in ... (more)
"Livable City Year is a multi-disciplinary program that engages University of Washington faculty and students to work on high-priority projects identified by community partners. We work with communities of all ... (more)
A dilapidated house was transformed into a public space for performance and celebration that can be folded and unfolded by hand as needed by the community. This project was idealized ... (more)
The Open Space Seattle 2100 project was a grassroots effort to engage a wide variety of stakeholders in discussing the future of Seattle's "green infrastructure." Led by the Green Futures ... (more)
The Othello Square project is a community-driven development initiative which strives to enhance equity in Southeast Seattle. From 2016 to 2018, the Othello Square Governance Committee and Othello Community generated ... (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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)