HISTORY & MISSION

The Design Studio for Social Intervention (DS4SI) was launched in 2006. Prior to that, it was incubated within the Center for Reflective Community Practice (now CoLab) in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning during the 2005-2006 academic year. DS4SI is located in Uphams Corner in Dorchester, MA, and has fiscal sponsorship provided by Third Sector New England.

In this video from Justin Francese, Kenny Bailey touches on the two major events that brought him to co-founding DS4SI, the ideas that arose from them, and their continued impact on the Studio's work today.

The Design Studio for Social Intervention partners with communities, artists, and social justice practitioners to imagine, demonstrate, and collectively rebuild places to be more just and vibrant.

IN PRACTICE

The studio functions as a creativity lab for social justice work in the public sphere. It is a space where activists, artists, academics and the larger public come together to imagine new approaches to social change and new angles to address complex social issues. Situated at the intersections of design thinking and practice, social justice and activism, public art and social practice and civic / popular engagement, we design and test social interventions with and on behalf of marginalized populations, controversies and ways of life.