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Sasha Costanza-Chock on “Design Justice”

May 13, 2020

“Design justice is about how we build a better world, a world where many worlds fit; linked worlds of collective liberation and ecological sustainability,” says Sasha Costanza-Chock, author of the new book, “Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need.”

In “Design Justice,” professor, designer and media-maker Sasha Costanza-Chock explores how “design might be led by marginalized communities to dismantle structural inequality, and advance collective liberation and ecological survival.” (Read chapters from Design Justice here, and an excerpt from Chapter 3 here. )

In a segment of their book, Costanza-Chock explores an example of how design justice can address the needs of a marginalized group. The Center for Migrant Rights developed a Yelp-like website called https://contratados.org, where migrant workers can review potential employers and recruitment agencies. The site also shares information on migrant worker rights and how to avoid recruitment scams. This site was developed through participatory design and included individuals who intended to use the site.

Sasha Costanza-Chock is associate professor of civic media at MIT. They are a faculty associate at the Berkman-Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, faculty affiliate with the MIT Open Documentary Lab, and creator of the MIT Codesign Studio. Their work focuses on social movements, transformative media organizing and design justice. Costanza-Chock’s first book, “Out of the Shadows, Into the Streets: Transmedia Organizing and the Immigrant Rights Movement” was published by the MIT Press in 2014. Costanza-Chock is a board member of Allied Media Projects and a Steering Committee member of the Design Justice Network.