Needed: Design in the Public Interest

Thomas Fisher, dean of the College of Design at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, writes in The Chronicle of Higher Education about "public interest design," the need for it and whether it fits best as a concept within current design education or ought to be its own profession:

At a time of declining employment in architectural offices and fading prospects for architectural graduates, an enormous amount of work remains largely overlooked by the profession: the provision of design services for the billions of people on the planet who need what architects can provide but who lack the ability to pay. Most architects have long sought more-lucrative work among clients who do have the means to pay. But with the financial crisis putting a severe crimp on traditional commissions, the time has come for designers to rethink our reason for being. Do we really want to continue to be servants of the superrich, or does our responsibility — and our overlooked opportunities for new types of services — also lie with the health, safety, and welfare of all?