Next week on the Omnibus we’ll be sharing documentation of our first live event: last November, we worked with Bryan Bell, Founder of Design Corps, to convene six teams of young designers to design and build something in the public interest, constructed from found materials, in 48 hours. Bryan kicked the project off with an inspiring talk, but this guy also walks the walk, designing homes for migrant farm workers in South Carolina and encouraging an ethos of design as activism through small-scale interventions across the world. Last Friday, Bryan inspired the design community of the Pacific Northwest at a forum of Architects without Borders – Oregon at Portland State University, where he discussed a new initiative called SEED, which stands for Social, Economic and Environmental Design:

As founder of the SEED Network, Bell promotes the idea of community-based design, which he said should be ecologically and culturally sensitive. Like LEED, a U.S. Green Building Council program that stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, SEED will have a scorecard system to measure how a development addresses the social, economic and environmental health issues of a community. (DJC Oregon 3.31.09)

Bryan’s infectious optimism about the potential for conscientious design action in the built environment to address inequalities might be exactly what this economy needs. Designers, small-scale interventions really can make a difference. If you want some real, live, built examples of this, stay tuned. Next week on the Omnibus: Make a Difference in Two Days.