Assessment & Evaluation in Social Impact Design

United States (Distributed)

Mapping Impact is a national, field-building initiative advancing more rigorous and reflective impact assessment within public interest design.

Over the past decade, significant investment has flowed into socially engaged design — spanning architecture, urban planning, graphic and product design, and creative placemaking. Yet while these practices aim to advance ecological, economic, and social equity, the field has lacked shared frameworks for understanding and communicating their impact.

Mapping Impact was created to address this gap.

The initiative brings together designers, researchers, and cross-sector practitioners to identify, synthesize, and elevate metrics, methodologies, and best practices drawn from adjacent disciplines. By building a dynamic inventory of assessment tools, the project strengthens the field’s ability to measure not only outputs, but relational, structural, and systemic change.

CSC contributed to this collaborative effort by supporting the articulation of evaluation strategies that:

• Integrate quantitative and qualitative methods
• Encourage intentional learning within design processes
• Foster dialogue between designers and the communities they serve
• Equip practitioners to align creative experimentation with measurable social impact

Rather than imposing reductive metrics, Mapping Impact positions evaluation as a reflective practice — one that deepens accountability, sharpens strategy, and strengthens the capacity of design to contribute to long-term systems transformation.

This initiative reflects CSC’s broader commitment to aligning creativity, community voice, and structural analysis — ensuring that socially engaged design fulfills its promise as a catalyst for equitable and regenerative change.