In this episode of WLEI Podcast, we welcome Cynthia E. Smith, Curator of Socially Responsible Design at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and author of Design for the Other 90%. Cynthia speaks about design as a catalyst for change and what it means, as she says, to be in “the collective work of building capacity and agency in communities across the world.” The conversation explores:
- How socially responsible design works and what types of problems it aims to solve (for example, improving quality and access to basic services we all need to live)
- The importance of collaborating closely with local communities throughout the design process and how architects, engineers, designers, and local experts can work together differently
- How design studios can move beyond the fee-for-service model by learning from public health models
- The future of socially responsible design, the “moral imagination”, and what it means to “model the future we want that doesn’t exist yet”
Designing the Future
An Introduction to Lean Product and Process Development.
