VIRTUAL Prague Research & Teaching Conference

Abstract

This paper describes how community-engaged design, particularly in international service-learning contexts, can foster transformative learning experiences for students and promote social innovation. It emphasizes the importance of educators in guiding students toward developing a mindset of radical relatedness (Gablik, 1991) and an ontology of care (Escobar, 2017). Specifically, the paper examines a transformative critical service-learning framework (Coffey & Arnold, 2022) used in an international course in Brazil, where U.S. and Brazilian students collaborate with the PopRua (National Movimento de População da Rua) to co-design and create spaces for Brazil’s unsheltered population. The course utilizes co-design, participatory methods, and local materials to build empathy, compassion, and collective creativity, aiming to promote social justice and elevate critical consciousness. The paper highlights co-creative processes to address design challenges and fosters radical interdependence, solidarity, and social justice for human rights. Through collaborative efforts, students engage with marginalized communities, developing resilience and empathy, cultivating compassion. The focus shifts from the final design product to the relational processes of knowing, being, and doing, which are essential for building long-term social and environmental justice. Drawing on Paulo Freire’s (1970) emphasis on love and liberation, the study underscores the role of design in creating spaces that signify belonging and dignity for underserved groups. Ultimately, the paper calls for a pedagogical shift in design education, promoting experiential, place-based learning that integrates critical theory, praxis, and social activism to inspire future generations of designers as climate citizens and social change agents.