Design Corps’ Indigenous Public Interest Design Institute:

Co-created with 7 North American Indigenous Planning Committee members, the Indigenous Public Interest Design Institute was held on October 24th, 2025 following a year of planning. Indigenous practitioners from around the world spoke during a half day online panel – “A Place to Call Home: Indigenous Design and Planning”. Meet the Committee.

The goal of this conference was “Learning by Sharing” – The conversations had at the Institute have been continued on through monthly webinars throughout the rest of 2025 and 2026 leading up to the in-person international conference – Structures for Inclusion taking place at Portland State University in partnership with the Center for Public Interest Design on October 8th, 9th, & 10th 2026. These discussions will culminate in a joint declaration based on actionable knowledge of best practices. See discussion topics.

We had 88 guests in attendance at the October Institute from around the world & Participants from 37 Indigenous nations & communities represented.

Why the need for this work? People should be able to participate in the decisions that shape their lives, and the design of the built and natural environment are important parts of these decisions. The vision of success for these discussions is for design and planning to be an empowering tool for Indigenous communities around the world.

Public Interest Design (PID) is a participatory, community-involved field of practice where designers are collaborating with local communities to harness the benefits of design. This field is like Public Health in that it addresses intensely local challenges as well as global social, economic and environmental design (SEED) issues. This field is also like Public Interest Law in that it provides services to all the public, not just the wealthy and powerful.

Those who are from Indigenous communities and/or have dedicated their time/attention to Indigenous communities are best suited to guide these discussions and provide valuable knowledge to engage the power of design in order to: address their own challenges, elevate their own principles, and celebrate their own culture.

The I-SEED Mission & Principles (Indigenous-Social, Economic, Environmental Design) –

*The Indigenous Public Interest Design Planning Committee created this mission and the following five principles collectively:

MISSION
Indigenous People have the right to live in socially, economically, and environmentally healthy communities grounded in cultural heritage and the sacred lands we called or call home.

PRINCIPLES
1 – Protect our culture, language, ceremonies, and thus, our inherent rights – across many generations of our continued existence.
2 – Preserve and enhance systems for inclusion and representation, so our communities strongly embody who we are as indigenous peoples around the world.
3 – Promote social cohesiveness and cultural continuity through discourse that reflects our range of values and social identities.
4 – Seek and make community-driven decisions to grow our capacity to plan, design and build in a way that promotes self-sufficiency and robust, living systems of sovereignty.
5 – Take care to be good and respectful relatives interconnected to all living things – seen and unseen / known and unknown – who are mindful stewards of our sacred Grandmother Earth

To learn more, visit our recordings: https://seednetwork.org/webinars/