Mia Scharphie
Public Interest Design as a Catalyst for Environmental and Socioeconomic Change

Designers have a powerful skillset – one that combines thoughtful problem solving with imaginative vision. In the face of today’s seemingly intractable social, economic and environmental problems, this holistic perspective is sorely needed. This presentation focuses on the potential of design to catalyze positive environmental and socioeconomic change via the rising public interest design movement, and assesses the possibilities and limitations of design for change. Landscape architect Mia Scharphie will draw on the work of her research collaborative, Proactive Practices, which investigates the strategies, methods, approaches and processes that leaders and pioneers in the emerging field of public interest – or social impact – design have employed to build sustainable community-based practices. The lecture will also cover issues of equity within the built environment design field, and strategies for greater inner inclusiveness and justice.

Mia Scharphie is a designer at the award-winning landscape architecture firm GroundView. Her professional experience includes work at the nationally-recognized nonprofit design firm Public Architecture, as well as at the SWA Group. She is a founder of the Proactive Practices research collaborative, which works to identify and publicize emerging models of financially sustainable, social impact design for the built environment. Mia received her MLA from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and her undergraduate degree cum laude in Urban Studies from Brown University. She has received a number of honors, awards, and fellowships, and her writing on issues of equity in design has been published in the Christian Science Monitor and GOOD Magazine.

Jan 25, 9 AM to 12 PM, Jan 26, 2025

Jan 26, 2025, 11 AM to 1 PM

Jan 29, 2025, 5:30 to 6:30 PM