Welcome to SEED

SEED: Social Economic Environmental Design® is a common standard to guide, evaluate and measure the social, economic and environmental impact of design projects.

SEED maintains the belief that design can play a vital role in the most critical issues that face communities and individuals, in crisis and in every day challenges. To accomplish this, the SEED® process guides professionals to work alongside locals who know their community and its needs. This practice of “trusting the local” is increasingly recognized as a highly effective way to sustain the health and longevity of a place or a community as it develops.

The name “SEED” was first proposed during a 2005 meeting at the Harvard Graduate School of Design where architects, designers, and other diverse experts in the public interest design movement convened to evaluate how design could respond to the triple bottom line of social, economic, and environmental justice.

SEED's mission is to advance the right of every person to live in a socially, economically and environmentally healthy community.

The SEED guiding principles are:

SEED Principle 1: Advocate with those who have a limited voice in public life.
SEED Principle 2: Build structures for inclusion that engage stakeholders and allow communities to make decisions.
SEED Principle 3: Promote social equality through discourse that reflects a range of values and social identities.
SEED Principle 4: Generate ideas that grow from place and build local capacity.
SEED Principle 5: Design to help conserve resources and minimize waste.

SEED Evaluator: The SEED Evaluator is a communication tool that allows communities to define goals for design projects and then measure the success in achieving these through a third-party review. Completion of the SEED Evaluator can lead to the SEED Certification process, which allows communities to develop their leadership and decision-making from within while using a proven method and recognized standard of success.

SEED Certification: Obtaining SEED Certification means that a project is recognized as having achieved levels of success within the qualitative and quantitative measures set forth within the SEED Evaluation process. Being certified requires that minimum thresholds of the SEED mission and principles be met by the specific goals set within the project and that the project has met benchmarks. When a project is awarded SEED Certification, it demonstrates compliance with SEED standards at an exemplary level. Communities that achieve this recognition leverage their accomplishment not only for their own goals but also for that of moving forward a process of inclusion and informed decision making in design. Obtaining SEED Certification is the standard that community organizers, leaders, designers and funders alike can use to document their significant and valued achievements.


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Chinatown Community Education Center Home Principles Join SEED The Pledge Network View Membership Committees Boards Conferences Evaluator Instructions Download Training Submitting Projects Case Studies News SEED Newsletter SEED Network in the News SEED Blog History Past Participants Donate		Welcome to SEED SEED: Social Economic Environmental Design® is a common standard to guide, evaluate and measure the social, economic and environmental impact of design projects. SEED maintains the belief that design can play a vital role in the most critical issues that face communities and individuals, in crisis and in every day challenges. To accomplish this, the SEED® process guides professionals to work alongside locals who know their community and its needs. This practice of “trusting the local” is increasingly recognized as a highly effective way to sustain the health and longevity of a place or a community as it develops. The name “SEED” was first proposed during a 2005 meeting at the Harvard Graduate School of Design where architects, designers, and other diverse experts in the public interest design movement convened to evaluate how design could respond to the triple bottom line of social, economic, and environmental justice. SEED's mission is to advance the right of every person to live in a socially, economically and environmentally healthy community. The SEED guiding principles are: SEED Principle 1: Advocate with those who have a limited voice in public life. SEED Principle 2: Build structures for inclusion that engage stakeholders and allow communities to make decisions. SEED Principle 3: Promote social equality through discourse that reflects a range of values and social identities. SEED Principle 4: Generate ideas that grow from place and build local capacity. SEED Principle 5: Design to help conserve resources and minimize waste. SEED Evaluator: The SEED Evaluator is a communication tool that allows communities to define goals for design projects and then measure the success in achieving these through a third-party review. Completion of the SEED Evaluator can lead to the SEED Certification process, which allows communities to develop their leadership and decision-making from within while using a proven method and recognized standard of success. SEED Certification: Obtaining SEED Certification means that a project is recognized as having achieved levels of success within the qualitative and quantitative measures set forth within the SEED Evaluation process. Being certified requires that minimum thresholds of the SEED mission and principles be met by the specific goals set within the project and that the project has met benchmarks. When a project is awarded SEED Certification, it demonstrates compliance with SEED standards at an exemplary level. Communities that achieve this recognition leverage their accomplishment not only for their own goals but also for that of moving forward a process of inclusion and informed decision making in design. Obtaining SEED Certification is the standard that community organizers, leaders, designers and funders alike can use to document their significant and valued achievements.

web site design co-conspirators: Lisa Abendroth, Eric Field	Sponsors:	Edward W. Rose, III Family Fund