Emergent Mindsets for Sustainable “Impact”
As the field of design has evolved, so have the complex environments where social-impact designers work to apply their expertise. For practitioners in this field, the design of a promising intervention is often outmatched by the pace upon which society “uncovers” a new dilemma; in many instances, the source of this issue can even be traced to an older, now unsustainable design-intervention. In collaboration with the ways many of us have started to adopt more environmentally-friendly practices for material-use and manufacturing processes, this talk will provide an overview of important attitudes and approaches we should consider in an effort to not only promote “social-sustainability” but a positive “impact” in people’s lives.
Shawn Harris II's Bio
Shawn Harris is a mechanical engineer (B.S. ‘15) or industrial designer (MID ‘19) by degree but a social-impact designer based on his passion and application of both skill sets. He currently serves as a lecturer through Georgia Tech’s Innovation and Design Collaborative (Design Bloc) and freelance design consultant. As a consultant he leverages his prior background and expertise with design research, need finding, and service-design methods to help identify new opportunities for organizations to design more equitable and human-centered business strategies. Similarly, his course offerings explore how equity-centered, asset-based design approaches can provide support to underinvested areas across America by way of real-world, collaborative design-initiatives within local community settings. Both initiatives are driven by an overarching interest in translating traditional design methodology into accessible tools for groups often disenfranchised by urban development and excluded from traditional design spaces. The results of this praxis are present in academic, public, and civic projects / environments throughout Atlanta, GA.