Designing for Social Innovation
Posted on | February 10, 2010 | No Comments
By Scott Boylston
Ezio Manzini discussing the designer's role in facilitating social innovation with the SCAD community.
The national IxDA conference in Savannah, Georgia brought a great many things to town, but nothing was quite as exciting as having Ezio Manzini here. Invited as a keynote speaker for the event, Ezio also took the time to give an engaging talk at SCAD’s Gulfstream Center on the role of design in facilitating social innovation. And his acceptance of the invitation to give the talk (which was extended by sustainable design guru and new Design for Sustainability faculty member, Ursula Tischner) was just the beginning of a rich and rewarding weekend.
Ezio Manzini with an informal discussion group at the IxDA 2010 Conference
Ezio was also in town to moderate a panel on DESIS, a global network of social innovation collaborators, an initiative created by him. The panel consisted of Lara Penin, who’s New York City DESIS project was awarded a Rockerfeller Foundation grant, and the three Design for Sustainability faculty at SCAD, program director Verena Hjeltness, myself, and the aforementioned Ursula Tischner.
Ezio Manzini, Lara Penin and Ursula Tischner speak with sculptor Jerome Meadows during a visit to his studio on Waters Avenue.
To end the visit, I gave Ezio, Lara and Ursula a non-traditional tour of Savannah, which included Woodville and Hudson Hill, two communities undergoing environmental and economic revitalization, thanks in part to an EPA CARE grant overseen by the environmental justice non-profit Haramabee House, Waters Avenue, and Savannah Gardens.
The Emergent Structures Project, while not directly modeled after the DESIS framework, embraces the concepts espoused by DESIS with pride; Ezio Manzini’s lifework has been greatly influential in the formation not only of Emergent Structures, but of the Design for Sustainability curriculum at SCAD. In fact, we are pleased to say that Emergent Structures and the Design for Sustainability program will soon become members of the DESIS network!
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