Life-Centered Design: Beyond Anthropocentrism and White Supremacy in Design

In response to a confluence of challenges – a global pandemic; increasing economic disparities; systemic racism and social inequity; rising political division, nationalism and authoritarianism; climate crisis; and war – designers are increasingly questioning their role and responsibility in the world. At the center of this critique is a fundamental reappraisal of a predominantly anthropocentric and white supremacist paradigms of design, both legacies of exclusion and oppression that valorize some lives over others. Join the Ecological Design Collective, a Baltimore-based community for radical ecological imagination and collaborative practice, for an evening to explore the emergent discourse around “life-centered design” – a design movement that values and uplifts the diversity of all life and seeks to acknowledge, challenge and reimagine systems and design practices that uphold persistent inequity and injustice, both between people and between people and the natural world.

The evening includes a curated panel presentation and discussion (6:00-7:00pm – also live streamed) as well as an open house (5:00-8:00pm) with EDC curators, members, students, and community partners, to learn more about the Collective, our current and past activities and projects, and how to get involved! Come hear from our panel of EDC curators, including social designer Lee Davis of the MICA Center for Social Design, architect Cristina Murphy of Morgan State University, environmental justice activist Shashawnda Campbell of the South Baltimore Community Land Trust, anthropologists Anand Pandian and Nicole Labruto of Johns Hopkins University, and more.