About the course
Fundamentals of Design for Social Innovation at SVA DSI
The course is designed to give students an opportunity to transform the way they see and work in social situations, and to begin practices that can transform their ability to stand in good relationships with themselves and the people and systems they work within. The ideas, short assignments and coaching in this course culminate in an experience in hosting a session of group understanding, dialogue, and co-creation.
For details, please see the full course syllabus in this pdf.
About this collection of articles
Throughout the Fall 2018 term, students will take turn acting as “scribe” for topics covered in the class. Their job is to synthesize readings, lecture material, and classroom activities into a summary contribution to this publication, along with some of their reflections.
For that reason, this will start small and grow in monthly bursts from September to December 2018. We hope you’ll follow along, and let us know what you think.
Marc Rettig and Hannah du Plessis, professors
Send us an email
In order to create a world that works for more people, for more life, we have to collaborate on the process of dreaming and visioning and implementing that world. …The more people who co-create the future, the more people whose concerns will be addressed from the foundational level in this world.
adrienne maree brown
About the DSI program
Social Design is the creation of new social conditions — in cities, corporate cultures or communities — resulting in increased creativity, equity, social justice, greater resilience, and a healthy connection to nature. It is relevant to every business, government, city, neighborhood and individual. It uses systems design, critical thinking, strategy, game mechanics, social movement design, collective leadership, imagination and beauty to move people to think differently and become more resilient and resourceful themselves. This is what our program is about, what we teach and what our graduates are out in the world doing. To put it more succinctly, it’s the design of systems; and the relationships between people and things instead of only the things themselves.
To see more about this unique program and its curriculum, and to read stories about our students and alumni, please visit the site: dsi.sva.edu.
