2016–17 Public Seminar Series: Ezio Manzini

UIC School of Design 2016–17 public seminar series and the
School of the Art Institute of Chicago lecture series

Ezio Manzini: discussion and lecture

Discussion: design and social innovation
Monday, February 27
12:00–1:30 pm
Architecture and Design Studios
Lecture hall 1300
845 West Harrison Street
University of Illinois at Chicago

Lecture: the politics of everyday life
6:00–7:30  pm
Sharp Building, Room 327
37 South Wabash Avenue
School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Free and open to the public


Ezio Manzini is Honorary Professor at the Politecnico di Milano and Chair Professor at University of the Arts London. A leading thinker in design for sustainability, he is the author of several books including the recent Design, When Everybody Designs: An Introduction to Design for Social Innovation (MIT Press, 2015). Manzini is the founder of DESIS, an international network on design for social innovation and sustainability.

In this conversation and presentation, jointly sponsored by the School of the Art Institute and UIC’s School of Design, Manzini will discuss:

an idea — that people and communities deserve the opportunity to design their lives;
a scenario — in which many of these projects coexist in a collaborative, design-based democracy;
and potential courses of action — demonstrating ways to put this form of democracy into practice.


UIC moderator:
Jonathan Mekinda, Assistant Professor
School of Art & Art History and School of Design, UIC

SAIC moderator:
Drea Howenstein, Associate Professor
Trans-disciplinary Research, Art Education, and Sculpture, SAIC


Sponsorship is made possible thanks to the collaborative efforts of the SAIC Design Council, Departments of Art Education, Architecture, Interior Architecture and Designed Objects, and the UIC School of Design public seminar series.

The UIC School of Design public seminar series serves as a research platform for the school’s MDES program, stimulating broad intellectual inquiry about the values guiding the designer by promoting discourse across industrial and graphic design.

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago offers cutting-edge exhibitions, avant-garde performances, international film screenings, compelling artists’ talks, and a one-of-a-kind fashion show — all open to the public.