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

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Editor Biographies

Lisa M. Abendroth is a professor and coordinator of the Communication Design program at the Metropolitan State University of Denver in Colorado. She is a Social Economic Environmental Design (SEED) founding member, a SEED Evaluator coauthor, and a 2013 recipient of the SEED Award for Leadership in Public Interest Design. Abendroth lectures and presents the SEED methodology and case studies in diverse educational contexts, including the Public Interest Design Institute. Her research across design disciplines includes writing, curating, and critically assessing solutions that address underserved people, places, and problems. Along with Bryan Bell, Abendroth is coeditor of the Public Interest Design Practice Guidebook: SEED Methodology, Case Studies, and Critical Issues (2016). She holds degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University and The Rhode Island School of Design.

Bryan Bell founded the nonprofit organization Design Corps in 1991 with the mission to provide the benefits of design for the 98 percent without architects. His current work includes research on the field of public interest design and the SEED Network, which Bell cofounded. His work has been supported by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) College of Fellows Latrobe Prize and through a Harvard Loeb Fellowship. Bell has published three books in the field, and he organizes the Public Interest Design Institute and the Structures for Inclusion conference series. He was awarded a National AIA Award and was a National Design Award finalist. His work has been exhibited at the Venice Biennale and the Smithsonian National Design Museum. Bell holds degrees from Princeton and Yale and is an associate professor in the School of Architecture at North Carolina State University.