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.

At the October (2025) Institute, we had 11 Indigenous speakers/allies presenting, 88 guests and 80+ international design/architecture universities, firms & organizations in attendance, & Participants from 37 Indigenous nations, communities, & native affiliations from the U.S. & beyond. The discussions on Indigenous topics have since continued with 10 webinars led by Indigenous Leaders and Design/Planning Practitioners and over 650 attendees from around the world.

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.

To learn more, visit: https://seednetwork.org/i-seed/

*All webinar recordings will be posted on our site very soon*