Act: Inspiration

Design for Good

November 16, 2017

“That’s what we do really: we do miracles,” said Anne-Marie Nyiranshimiyimana, who learned masonry in helping to build the Butaro Hospital, a project designed for and with the people of Rwanda using local materials. This, and other projects designed with dignity, show the power of good design. Almost nothing influences the quality of our lives more than the design of our homes, our schools, our workplaces, and our public spaces. Yet, design is often taken for granted and people don’t realize that they deserve better, or that better is even possible.

In Design for Good, John Cary offers character-driven, real-world stories about projects around the globe that offer more—buildings that are designed and created with and for the people who will use them. The book reveals a new understanding of the ways that design shapes our lives and gives professionals and interested citizens the tools to seek out and demand designs that dignify.

For too long, design has been seen as a luxury, the province of the rich, not the poor. That can no longer be acceptable to those of us in the design fields, nor to those affected by design that doesn’t consider human aspects.

From the Mulan Primary School in Guangdong, China to Kalamazoo College’s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, the examples in the book show what is possible when design is a collaborative, dignified, empathic process. Building on a powerful foreword by philanthropist Melinda Gates, Cary draws from his own experience as well as dozens of interviews to show not only that everyone deserves good design, but how it can be achieved. This isn’t just another book for and about designers. It’s a book about the lives we lead, inextricably shaped by the spaces and places we inhabit.

John Cary

An architect by training, John Cary has devoted his career to expanding the practice of design for the public good. John's first book was The Power of Pro Bono and his writing on design, philanthropy, and fatherhood has appeared in The New York TimesCNN, and numerous other publications. John works as an advisor to an array of foundations and nonprofits around the world and frequently curates and hosts events for TED, The Aspen Institute, and other entities. Deeply committed to diversifying the public stage, he is a founding partner in FRESH, a next-generation speaker’s bureau that represents young women and people of color. For seven years, John served as executive director of nonprofit Public Architecture, building the largest pro bono design program in the world, pledging tens of millions of dollars in donated services annually.

Tags: building resilient communities, resilient architecture

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