Case Studies in Design is a new effort to create opportunities for community and design leaders to think together about ways to catalyze transformational design, planning, and place-keeping from the ground up. The goals are to learn from ambitious projects designed in community, to share knowledge and experience through dialogue and a public library of case studies, and to train ourselves for new practices of creative, collective action. We hope to build conversation among thinkers and doers in community organizations, movements, public agencies, schools, and the architecture, landscape, planning, heritage and art fields.
Projects designed in community
Case Studies in Design will support the development of 15 total case studies over 3 years. The aim is to study projects where design and planning helped build community power, and where community-led processes produced new forms of design agency through:
1. Deep conversation to shape the nature and time horizon of the project
2. Openness and deference to rooted leadership
3. Reciprocal (not extractive) processes, creatively designed
4. Collaboration and resource-sharing
5. New alliances to achieve leverage.
Collective writing and thinking project
Case Studies in Design is coordinated by PennPraxis, a center at Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania that is dedicated to the translation of theory into praxis (or action). Our aspiration is to bring together people from a wide geography and set of perspectives on diverse change efforts. Case study projects could range from outstanding examples of community- engaged design practice to more radical roles and results of design, planning or place-keeping. To propel this collective writing and thinking project, we are seeking applications from people who would like to research and author a case study.
We will support case study writers with a fee and expense allowance of $50,000 per author to research, write, and curate or create illustrations for a case study over a period of 8 months. Fees for community members participating in interviews, travel and other expenses will be managed by authors within the resources of the $50,000 lump sum for fee and expense. (Two people may apply to work together on a case project, sharing the fee.)
Public library and action—oriented summit
PennPraxis will publish the case studies and create an online public library to disseminate them. We will organize a variety of forums from the classroom to gatherings with policymakers and funders to propagate strategies that increase community conversation and influence in the built environment. In the third year of the effort, with 15 case studies in print, we will organize a summit for community leaders, policymakers, students, practitioners, and thinkers to probe more deeply into methods and to shape lessons learned for key audiences. The aim of the summit is to create culture-shifting dialogue between disciplines, spheres of action, governments, funders and community leaders, practice and theory.
Case study method of conversation and analysis
Most design “case studies” are project descriptions and images that focus on the what, not the how—the built project and perhaps its reception and performance. Designers are skilled at presenting the thesis, appearance and materials of their projects; so much so, that it can be difficult to understand whether the project outcomes and process measure up to the image for those who will live with them. The statement of the designer rarely conveys how the project was made, or the perspectives of community leaders, policymakers, scientists and other participants in the process.
Our case studies will place focus on the process—the many collaborators and contingencies—and offer insight into how communities and interdisciplinary teams have attempted to traverse the “valley of death” between ideas and implementation. We are most interested in documenting projects where the physical design, plan or artwork is rich and dynamic, and where the engagement process can be shown to have influenced decision-making and the physical design.
We aim to create a case study method that invites analysis and requires participants to shape their own values and strategies—active learning for would-be activist designers and community leaders interested taking on complex challenges. Similar to teaching case studies developed in policy and business schools, we are interested in supporting the creation of case studies that are intentionally open-ended presentations of a compelling situation that carries some conflict and uncertainty, with many different viewpoints included in the reporting, rather than critical essays that offer the authors’ conclusions or a how-to guide. The purpose is to cultivate the user’s capacity for critical analysis, bias recognition, collaboration, leadership, decision-making and action on challenging issues and projects. We believe that, done well, case research and discussion can help us develop theory from practice, and apply new theory to practice.
Applying to study and document a project
Individuals (or pairs) can apply to develop a case for a fee of $50,000 by submitting the following material HERE in a single pdf file of no more than 20MB:
1) 2,000 to 3,000-word description of a project that you think would make an interesting case study in community-engaged design, planning or place-keeping, and why
2) 3 to 8 project images
3) a writing sample—past work that demonstrates capacity for narrative and analytical writing
4) CV or résumé with current contact information
The length of your résumé is less important than your perspective on projects designed in community and capacity to enrich the knowledge base through the medium of case study writing and illustration.
Suggesting a project if you are not applying to write a case study
We also welcome suggestions of exemplary projects worthy of deep analysis from colleagues in community and indigenous organizations, movements, public agencies, design and planning practices, and foundations. You can submit a project suggestion (with or without images) HERE. Recommendations can be of any length, even just a project name and location or link. We can accept file sizes up to 20MB. Please include your contact information in case we would like to reach out to learn more.
Applications will be reviewed as they come in until the deadline at 12pm on December 1, 2025. We aim to award all contracts by January 2026. Authors will have 8 months to submit a completed case study, with an interim review at roughly 4 months. Guidelines for case study authors on the length of the case, illustrations, milestones, and other expectations are available.
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