experience

Lisa’s research endeavors are centered on contemporary practices of community-based, public interest design. Her work seeks to understand community engagement in design practices that promote a transparent and productive dialogue between designers and stakeholders in an effort to support triple-bottom line goals of social justice, economic development, and environmental conservation.

With the imperative that design must move towards a paradigm of sensitivity to the needs of all people, we must understand the implications of this work, its affects and the success, and shortcomings of designed outcomes in a variety of contexts. Evaluation and assessment across the fields of design is at the heart of this research.

Lisa’s participation in the SEED Network is an example of the high level of collaboration she seeks in her research and practice. The SEED Network proposes an evaluative tool, the SEED Evaluator, ideally suited for the diverse disciplines of design. A co-author of the SEED Evaluator, it is an interactive software program that provides a protocol to help guide, document, evaluate, and communicate the social, economic, and environmental outcomes of design projects. From 2010 to present Lisa has contributed to the editing and subsequent release of all current SEED Evaluator versions.