Scholars of architectural practice and education repeatedly call for
a broader public agenda that goes beyond form-making, technical
problem-solving, and serving the wishes of private clients to help
“foster, through design, more wholesome neighborhoods, safer
streets, more productive workplaces, a cleaner environment, and
more cohesive communities.”9 This shift is needed not only to serve
a broader range of people but is also essential to the future of
architecture as a profession. We are uniquely trained to address
multiple complex interrelated issues, making us perfectly suited to
become leaders in addressing issues of global warming, increasing
urbanization, growing disparities between rich and poor, and the
implications of the global economy. To do this, however, requires
a change in the social structure of architectural practice and
education. As David Perkes from the Gulf Coast Community Design
Studio discusses, this kind of change, unlike technical change,
Public Interest Design: A Vehicle for Change
in Architectural Educati on and Practice
nadia anderson
Iowa State University
269 - 2012 ACSA International Conference
requires significant effort because it is not built into the capitalist
building industry. Like public health, it requires improved public
access to design services and the preventive tackling of underlying
problems with the built environment that lead to inequities.10
The 1967 “Princeton Report” sponsored by the American Institute
of Architects (AIA) called for an educational system for architects
that would not only develop practical competence but also prepare
students to work within and even thrive upon “the continuing
changes in the social, economic, scientific and technological setting
of our society,” thus preparing them to create new frameworks for
practice, society, and the built environment.11 Civil rights leader
Whitney Young subsequently called attention to the need for a social
shift in architecture when he said at the 1968 AIA Convention,