Design for Development

1986

Sanjay Prakash, Revi, A., and Khosla, A., 1986. A Transcultural View of Sustainable Development:

2007

This article reviews current methodologies for the design of development projects and identifies foundational reasons for conflict between design approaches and participatory methods. A number of alternative approaches to the design of interventions in social systems are examined, and the potential application of some of these new ideas within a visioning process that is based on communicative rationality is explored.

EAR 39, 2025

The transfer of typologies, technologies and materials promoted by development programmes does not usually take into account the solutions of form and function with which the Indigenous communities of Central Chaco give meaning to their architecture. The contents and designs promoted from a centralised management of decisions are implemented by agencies with the capacity to influence policies that are unaware of the local conditions and the trajectories of the peoples on which they have an impact. Available in: https://journals.ed.ac.uk/ear/issue/view/683

Design with the other 90%: Cumulus Johannesburg Conference Proceedings, 2014

This paper critically describes a design methodology for achieving socially important goals through design. Such a methodology combines the best of human-centred and participatory design methodologies with critical social science and action research. This paper describes how design can be used in a multi-stakeholder context that attempts to create opportunities for urban agriculture in a changing food system. The paper describes a method that integrated urban farmers, industrial designers, development practitioners and government officials in the design process. It describes how designers and social scientists should immerse themselves in the lifeworld of their participants, how they should engage with them and what can be done to reflect critically on the process of designing with the other 90%.

2016

There are many ideas these days about how to create positive social and environmental change for low-income communities. These ideas, associated with terms such sustainability, urbanism, community mobilization or community development to design new principles of strategies and structures for giving an opportunity for a better life. In doing so, design research will be a strong tool of establishing scenarios for social development to repair and revitalize of local built environments. However, the design vision of “retrofitting” of low-income areas is still far from the real needs and potentials of the region and its inhabitants, effectively enabling people towards sustainability. This issue of this paper is to obtain a better understanding of the design’s contributions for environmental, social and economic challenges for increasing the ability and skills of people from local community. It is a case study approach to the question of developing platform of design thinking with the exp...

2009

This paper is part of an ongoing doctoral research project on titled; Value Creation through Sustainable Design intervention; A case study of Indigenous bamboo cane products in Botswana. Through its practice and manifest, design cuts through the core of human life, and its impact is intricably woven into and reverberates through our daily activities. Whilst there may be an agreed set of definitions and processes for design amongst professionals, there is a plethora of interpretation of design by the everyday person, depending on their context of interaction and understanding. This is more evident in the rural communities of the world, far removed from the glitz of the advanced technological trappings, where simple, but focussed design interventions make a big difference and add substantial value to the everyday life. In this context design manifests itself as a strong economic and social conduit, with a balanced sustainability platform. This paper reflects on and documents the curre...

Anais do XIX Congresso da Sociedade Ibero-americana de Gráfica Digital 2015, 2015

Design researchers in South America have taken a particular interest in understanding how local research could address regional issues and political struggles, as a result of an increased acknowledgement of the need to respond to local demands with cultural and social sensitivity (e.g.,

The Design Journal

To stay within the planetary boundaries, we have to take responsibility, and this includes designers. This requires new perspectives on design. In this work, we focus on a co-design project with indigenous communities. Within such communities, indigenous knowledge is central. Indigenous knowledge acknowledges that the world is alive and that we, as humans, are merely a small part. Central in our approach is Sheehan's respectful design, which ensures a central place for indigenous knowledge in the design process. However, Sheehan's approach does not state in pragmatic terms how such a design approach can be achieved. Some of the co-design processes we engaged in led to respectful design spaces, others did not. This helped us to identify patterns of dynamics that are essential for respectful design. At the core of our findings lies the observation that in order to reach a respectful design space, in which indigenous knowledge is embedded, a shared dialogical space between community and designer is essential.

Maya Leaders Alliance (MLA) is an advocacy organization for Maya people in Southern Belize. In 2015, 39 Maya communities in Toledo achieved a major victory supporting indigenous rights and sovereignty, the Caribbean Court of Justice upheld their claim for land tenure. With ancestral land acquired and protected, MLA and Maya community leadership now concentrates on developing a ​Maya Economy​ based on culturally appropriate market strategies. This paper will document the efforts of master-level students studying Development Practice (MDP) in helping investigate the role specific biocultural innovations and culturally rooted market strategies play in supporting the formation of a ​Maya Economy. ​Our work will add to the understanding of indigenous practices of sustainable development specifically in the realm ecotourism initiatives. Our team will support MLA in the design of a prototype process for implementation of biocultural innovations, facilitated through human-centered design pr...

Iridescent, 2011

This paper focuses on how designers can contribute to enabling sustainable livelihoods in communities, especially communities of people with physical disabilities. Designing to enable sustainable livelihoods is a new area of design research and practice. Between 2007– 2010 I undertook a design research investigation with one of the most disadvantaged communities in a semi- urban area of Thailand. The aim of this investigation was to explore the role and potential contribution of designers for enabling sustainable livelihoods within such communities. It was undertaken as a collaborative project with nineteen community members who had physical impairment in the Samut Prakran province. This community had a long history of developing craft objects as a means for income generation. The objective in this research was to explore and trial the development of new approaches for income generation that would result in an alternative livelihood model for them; including transforming their capabilities and available resources in their community into positive outcomes. Transforming the designer’s role can have empowering effects on not only the participants and their community but also upon designers themselves. To do this, designers need to change their mindsets, attitudes, and behavior about their own role and that of the participants. The designers are no longer providers of a solution for the participants but rather agents of sustainable changes who have multiple roles as facilitators, enablers, innovators, and disseminators. The community participants are no longer passive recipients of a solution created for them. They need to have an active role in the research process to generate solutions which are then implemented in their community.

Revitalizing Marginalized Communities for Sustainable Development by Design | Revitalizing Marginalized Communities for Sustainable Development by Design, 2019

This paper discusses the role of design in revitalizing marginalized communities facing economical, ecological, and cultural crisis. Using two rural towns in the US and China as locations for field study, this research team conducted interviews and observations, organized workshops and class projects, and participated in alternative agriculture practices to investigate opportunities for design research and design thinking methods to be utilized in the development of agricultural production, enhancement of economic growth, and improvement of community wellbeing. The paper concludes with recommendations for designers and community activists who might be interested in sustainable development for marginalized communities.

ABSTRACT The goal of this study is to explore the meaning of Social Design through design research, investigate appropriate methods for fieldwork study within this context, and seek ways in which design can bring about sustainable community development. In the process of conducting the research, some key elements leading to sustainability were identified that helped to create a “Design Model for Sustainable Community Development.” Through in-depth research of three Social Design case studies and interviews conducted with design experts, key methods were identified, providing insights for designers who might consider working in this emerging sector, while adding to the discourse of Social Design. This thesis also makes a distinction between “Design for Social Good” and Design for “Social Impact.” It affirms a paradigm shift in design practice towards a more human-centered approach, from designing for people to designing with people. Participatory Design, Exploratory Research and Ethnography are suggested as important methods that provide ways to work in Social Design that can foster ideas to bring about change that can impact societies. There is a new realm of opportunity for designers to work in this emerging social sector. By using their unique skill sets, they can begin to raise the value of design, so often misunderstood by people outside the sector and can be the “change leaders” people want and need today.

Archintorno is a non-profit organization of young architects based in Naples, that has been promoting initiatives of development cooperation with indigenous communities in the Mexican State of Oaxaca since 2005. These initiatives involve universities, associations, local governments, and professionals in and outside Italy and rely on a didactic format, internationally known as Design-Build Studio, that includes the direct involvement of students from the Schools of Architecture and Engineering in designing and creating buildings in the developing contexts. Our projects aim at using local materials and resources through low-cost, repeatable technologies, that are also consistent with local climate, social, and cultural context. Decisions on how to realize the projects are the result of a careful, shared analysis of lifestyles, housing culture, and local construction techniques. The cultural exchange between students and local populations is another relevant factor playing a major role in these projects. Therefore, in the context of the current debate about different approaches to architectural design in international cooperation, the experience of Archintorno is in close continuity with the local vernacular culture. This article describes the strengths and weaknesses of the proposed approach through the analysis of the three cooperation experiences of Archintorno in Mexico. The topics discussed cover forms of participation and capacity building, project impact on the local community in terms of economic, socio-cultural, as well as environmental and landscape aspects, in addition to the transposal of technological and architectural innovations and may represent a starting point for discussion within the context of the community operating in this field.

2015

This essay argues there is value in considering participatory design as a form of generative anthropology at a time when we recognise that we need not only to understand cultures but to change them towards sustainable living. Holding up the democratically-oriented practices of some participatory design research to definitions of anthropology allows the essay to explore the role of intervention in social process. And, challenging definitional boundaries, the essay examines design as a participatory tool for cultural change, creating and interogating futures (and the idea of futures). In analysing how designing moves towards change in the world, the essay brings together design research and concepts from anthropology to help us better understand and operationalise our interventions and pursue them in a fair and sustainable manner.

Buildings

Current changes are making communities, cities, and territories increasingly vulnerable. Urban architectural interventions have the power to intervene this situation, directly reducing vulnerabilities or backing social initiatives. Urban and architectural interventions, however, are also those that take a longer time to be implemented and to impact society. For this, these interventions must be sustained by broad and transversal visions, as well as referring to the temporal context of the coming decades. For these reasons, the research project “Design for Vulnerables” aims to define which methodologies should be adopted to reduce urban vulnerabilities in the coming decades. A design workshop, set in a vulnerable community in the northern Mexico, was organized, documented, and analyzed. Based on the research by design methodology, the research highlighted current issues, transversal to urban-architectural design, which influence urban vulnerabilities. This multidisciplinary approach ...