by Karen O'Donnell Stein
February 16th 2022
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Sleeping pods at the Kenton Women's Village
Professor Sergio Palleroni and the Center for Public Interest Design in the School of Architecture helped to convene Design for the Common Good, a coalition of international organizations dedicated to promoting community-centered and sustainable design practices. The founding networks include Curry Stone Foundation, DesignBuildXchange, Live Projects Network, Pacific Rim Community Design Network and SEED Network.
This “network of networks” recently unveiled the new Design for the Common Good website, a global digital hub that provides a space for designers, students, educators, and communities globally to share best practices and resources, learn from case studies and track innovative projects across the globe using a worldwide map. The website also offers a range of free tools geared to support new public interest design projects and the communities and designers that undertake them.
The network also launched the Design for the Common Good International Exhibition at Metropolitan State University of Denver, running January 14 through March 19, 2022. This exhibition showcases public interest design projects including two co-led by PSU School of Architecture students and faculty, Chamanga Cultural Center and Alternative Shelter & Village Building. The exhibition culminates in the two-day Structures for Inclusion conference, March 4 and 5, featuring a keynote address by Fonna Forman and Teddy Cruz, a former PSU School of Architecture Distinguished Visiting Professor.
“Having collaborated with these networks for many years, I am immensely proud to have helped to bring together the Design for the Common Good coalition and make these creative resources available to designers everywhere,” said Palleroni. “The more we can share innovations and pool our ideas for how to address issues such as climate change, pollution, poverty and injustice, the closer we can get to strengthening communities and lessening suffering around the world.”
Visit https://www.designforthecommongood.net/dcg-exhibition/ for more information and to register for Structures for Inclusion. Students can attend the conference for free; select the SEED Network option during registration or contact sergiop@pdx.edu.