PennPraxis

West Philadelphia High School students designing and building a new gathering space on their campus under Praxis’ leadership. (Image source: Tyger Williams for the Inquirer)

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PennPraxis is the applied research, engagement, and practice arm at the Weitzman School of Design. We collaborate with students, clients, and community organizers to develop tools, strategies, and design interventions that imagine new futures for both urban and rural landscapes. Our goal is to share power with historically marginalized peoples, create equity, and generate new resources to address the most pressing social and environmental problems of the 21st century.

Featured Work

Creating a Community Education Fund

Crowded nightclub, people dancing and bright purple lights flashing.

Measuring a City's Nightlife

Rendering of a path with a walkway and a group of people sitting and talking

Designing new futures for the Lehigh Valley

A group of students sitting on benches turn to face the camera

Design to Thrive

A group of people around a table at a meeting

Empowering New Community Leaders

A person squatting next to a large boulder in the woods

Lenape Heritage and Design Work

Message from a Design Fellow

As a native West Philadelphian, I was elated to participate in projects that forced us to think critically about the design process while living through the pandemic, gentrification in Philadelphia, and increasing violence involving our youth. It was rewarding to empower residents to be change agents in their neighborhoods and to vocalize their perspectives, [which] are often left out of decision-making processes.

Ebony Powell, 2021 Praxis Design Fellow