Public Interest Design Education Guidebook: Curricula, Strategies, and SEED Academic Case Studies

Public Interest Design Education Guidebook: Curricula, Strategies, and SEED Academic Case Studies presents the pedagogical framework and collective curriculum necessary to teach public interest designers. The second book in Routledge’s Public Interest Design Guidebook series, the editors and contributors feature a range of learning competencies supported by distinct teaching strategies where educational and community-originated goals unite. Written in a guidebook format that includes projects from across design disciplines, this book describes the learning deemed most critical to pursuing an inclusive, informed design practice that meets the diverse needs of both students and community partners.

Featured chapter themes include Fundamental Skills, Intercultural Competencies, Engaging the Field Experience, Inclusive Iteration, and Evaluating Student Learning. The book consists of practice-based and applied learning constructs that bridge community-based research with engaged learning and design practice. SEED (Social Economic Environmental Design) academic case studies introduce teaching strategies that reinforce project-specific learning objectives where solving social, economic, and environmental issues unites the efforts of communities, student designers, and educators. This comprehensive publication also contains indices devoted to learning objectives cross-referenced from within the book as well as considerations for educational program development in public interest design.

Whether you are a student of design, an educator, or a designer, the breadth of projects and teaching strategies provided here will empower you to excel in your pursuit of public interest design.

Lisa M. Abendroth is a professor in the Communication Design program at Metropolitan State University of Denver in Colorado, USA. She is a SEED Network founding member and a recipient of the SEED Award for Leadership in Public Interest Design. Her work focuses on the social, economic, and environmental impacts of design created within the contexts of underserved people, places, and problems. Abendroth is a coeditor of the Public Interest Design Practice Guidebook: SEED Methodology, Case Studies, and Critical Issues (2016).

Bryan Bell

founded Design Corps in 1991 with the mission to provide the benefits of design for the 98 percent without architects. Bell has published three books on public interest design. His work has been supported by the American Institute of Architects Latrobe Prize and through a Harvard Loeb Fellowship. His designs have been exhibited at the Venice Biennale and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Bell holds degrees from Princeton University, USA, and Yale University, USA. He teaches at North Carolina State University, USA.