Design Thinking Roundtable

Tales of the Field is a podcast series which gives voice to social activists and social innovators who work in and with their communities  to create social impact and sustainable change. They share with us their work in the field - where they  tackle complex social issues and aim to create sustainable change and social impact. At its core, their work is human-centered, systemic and always informed by a deep understanding of the context and people’s lives. In this episode, we talked with Pushpa Joshi, a young Nepalese social activist, passionate about the issues of gender and sexuality, as well as sexual and reproductive health rights.  At the age of 15, Pushpa joined a local youth club focusing on Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights in her hometown of Bakhtapur. In 2019, she co-founded YoSHAN (Youth-led Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights Advocacy Nepal). Recently she also directed Lalita, a short film about sex workers, for which she received multiple awards. You can view Lalita here: https://youtu.be/zPfiAp4ZVwk Co-conception and production: Anne-Laure Fayard Voice and co-conception: Melchior Tamisier-Fayard Sound design, Music and Post-production: Guilhem Tamisier Artwork: Jyoti Tamisier-Fayard

Lisbeth Shepherd is Entrepreneur in Residence at MIT's designX and Visiting Lecturer at MIT's School of Architecture and Planning. Her work focuses on how "climate corps" in cities can promote environmental and economic justice.  Shepherd co-founded the Green City Force (GCF) in 2009 to address the dual imperatives of youth unemployment and climate change.She previously coordinated the Clean Energy Corps working group at Green for All, and co-founded Unis-Cité, the leading national youth service program in France. She is an Echoing Green alum, Draper Richards Kaplan Fellow, Audubon “Woman Greening the City,” and White House Youth Jobs+ Champion of Change. Lisbeth's interests center on "climate corps" the organized efforts of young adults, in particular those in frontline communities most affected by climate change and unemployment, that provide a platform for service, training and leadership for young people on a path to engaging careers in the green economy." Lisbeth was the Spring 2022 Social Innovator in Residence with the ERA Chair in Social Innovation and the DESIS Lab at NOVA SBE. Follow Lisbeth on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisbeth-shepherd-ab53555/ and Twitter: @LFShepherd Read about Green City Force: https://greencityforce.org/ and Uni-Cité: https://www.uniscite.fr/ Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure Fayard Sound design & Post-production: Claudio Silva Music: Guilhem Tamisier Art work: Guilhem Tamisier

In this episode, I talked with Ayah Younis, a human centered-designer for social change. With 10-year experience in education in museums, she employs innovative tools and play methods to design learning experiences for children and adults. Ayah shared with me her work using human-centered design to create meaningful experiences in museums as well as in the health centers in Jordan and the region. She emphasized the power of play in reducing boundaries and creating a safe environment. Ayah also highlighted the value of iteration and rapid prototyping in helping create impactful solutions reminding us that human-centered design is a mindset that we need to fully embrace. Last, she invited designers working in international development like her to build relationships and dialogue with all stakeholders. Read Trajectories of international development, a roundtable to which Aya participated with Sarah Fathallah and Robert Fabricant It was reproduced in an edited volume Design for social innovation case studies from around the world (2022), eds. by M. Amatullo, B. Boyer, J. May and A. Shea):  https://www.routledge.com/Design-for-Social-Innovation-Case-Studies-from-Around-the-World/Amatullo-Boyer-May-Shea/p/book/9780367898427 Follow Ayah on LinkedIn:  And on her website: https://ayahyounis.com/ Credits: Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure Fayard Sound design & Post-production: Claudio Silva Music: Blake Rook Art work: Guilhem Tamisier

In this episode, I talked with Megan Marini, co-founder and Principal, Director of Strategy and Outreach  of 3X3, an inclusive and participatory innovation studio designing for systemic change, based in New York City and New Delhi. Over the past decade, they have been bringing communities, the public sector, and private entities together as allies to create social transformation and impact. Megan is a designer, architect and strategist passionate about community-centered design and designing for justice and systemic change. She shared her work helping civic organizations in various parts of the world to listen to, learn from, and collaborate with their stakeholders to design and pilot innovative programs, services, and initiatives that unlock social value. Megan emphasized the need to be thoughtful about the unintended consequences of design, even participatory design. She stressed the need to explore ways to enact inclusion and power sharing in design practices. Megan shared with me the main components of the 3X 3 Toolkit for community-centered design and how it can help facilitate more inclusive and just design practices. Read about 3X3  Community-centered design toolkit here: https://3x3.co/toolkit/overview/ Follow Megan Marini on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/megan-marini-79255914/ And on 3X3 website: https://3x3.co Credits: Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure Fayard Sound design & Post-production: Claudio Silva Music: Blake Rook Art work: Guilhem Tamisier

In this episode, I talked with Eric Ho, co-founder and Director of Architecture Commons based in Hong Kong, a design agency for urban innovation. Eric is an architect, entrepreneur, and urban thinker passionate about architecture and urban environments that have a lasting impact on society. He  described civic design projects he led in New York and in Hong Kong. Eric emphasized the value of cross-sector collaboration (citizens, businesses, institutions and governments) for social innovation while highlighting associated challenges and suggesting that design thinking can be a language to support collaboration. Last, Eric reflected on the challenges to move from design thinking to design doing and social impact.  Follow Eric Ho on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/architectericho/ and on The Commons' website: https://www.acommons.com/ Credits: Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure Fayard Sound design & Post-production: John Klima Music: Blake Rook Art work: Guilhem Tamisier

In this episode, I talked with Javiera Arenas, a design strategist and service designer, from Chile, working at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York. Javi reflected on her practice in designing holistic healthcare experiences. She highlighted the need to take a system view and engage all stakeholders in the process.  While acknowledging the difficulties inherent to designing holistic experiences, she also provided great stories on how to use participatory design to co-create spaces that support those who are experiencing a difficult time. Follow Javi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/javiera-arenas/ Credits: Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure Fayard Sound design & Post-production: John Klima Music: Blake Rook Art work: Guilhem Tamisier

In this episode, I talked with Ben Reason, founding partner of pioneering service design studio Livework, created in London in 2001. Ben and I discussed Ben’s article “Designing in the Anthropocene”. Ben reflected on his journey from his early interest in triple bottom line and his current interest in sustainability. He discussed the tensions between theory and practice.  He also shared his thoughts on the role of designers as facilitators and the importance of multi-stakeholders collaborations to address complex problems like climate change. Follow Ben on Twitter @breasy and LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/breasy/ Credits: Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure Fayard Sound design & Post-production: John Klima Music: Blake Rook Art work: Guilhem Tamisier

Engineering X Design is a Podcast Series produced by the Design Lab at NYU MakerSpace. This podcast complements a series of fireside chats where we invite professionals working at the intersection of design, engineering, and technology. Our guest for this episode is Rinat Sherzer, Founder of Of Course Global (https://www.ofcourseglobal.com/) To watch her TED Talk: The Bloody Taboo With The Power To Change The World: https://www.ted.com/talks/rinat_sherzer_the_bloody_taboo_with_the_power_to_change_the_world Or read about her project "What Would the Egg Do?": https://www.wwted.com/ Credits--- conception and production: Anne-Laure Fayard; sound design, music & post-production: Blake Rook; voice: Melchior Tamisier-Fayard; logo design: Florentina Sergiou

In this episode, I talked with Clare Brass, a London-based designer and innovator for business, with a focus on sustainability and circular economy. Clare is the Director of Department 22, which offers consultancy and training in design, innovation and circular economy with a focus on food systems. Clare shared her views on the importance of values in design as well as how to design sustainability and with a circular mindset. She reflected on the new role of designers when they move away from designing "stuff". Follow her on Twitter @clarebrass and LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/clare-brass-851771/?originalSubdomain=uk Check also: http://www.department22.uk Credits: Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure Fayard Sound design, music & post-production: Blake Rook

Engineering X Design is a Podcast Series produced by the Design Lab at NYU MakerSpace. This podcast complements a series of fireside chats where we invite professionals working at the intersection of design, engineering, and technology. Our guest for this episode is Adekunle Oduye, Senior Engineer at Mailchimp. Credits--- conception and production: Anne-Laure Fayard; sound design, music & post-production: Blake Rook; voice: Melchior Tamisier-Fayard; logo design: Florentina Sergiou