Designing for Dignity

What does it mean to design for dignity?

For Jennifer Donovan, it’s not just a question. It’s a moral and economic imperative. Through her work as an architect, urban planner, and global thought leader with United Nations-Habitat, and in her practice, Inclusive Design Australia—Jenny has made it achingly clear: design that excludes is design that harms.

“If we accept that disease and distress coalesce in parts of our towns and cities and ignore it… we make cities cruel and inefficient places.”

In a world grappling with climate upheaval, economic disparity, and social fragmentation, Jenny offers us an alternative path—one rooted in care, in clarity, and in the radical idea that everyone deserves to thrive. Her work invites us not merely to repair what’s broken, but to reimagine—to listen for the unheard, design for the unseen, and create for the uninvited.

This invitation aligns powerfully with the heart of the MA in Creative Leadership program at MCAD, where we’re asking: How do we build worlds worth living in? Not just manage the status quo, but courageously co-create new systems—ones grounded in justice, imagination, and relationship. MCAD's Creative Leadership students had the honor of visiting with Jenny last night during our classroom- In Community Session- where we had the opportunity to learn from one another and explore how the process of design is equally as important as the product of design.

In our discussion Jenny outlined a framework that foregrounds lived experience, trauma-informed spatial practices, and inclusive reconstruction after disasters. Whether responding to floods, fires, or war, Jenny’s methodology begins with listening—to grief, to memory, to hope—and only then moves to building. Her work insists that places carry stories, and rebuilding must honor those narratives. Jenny does not offer simplistic fixes. Instead, she sits in the complexity. She helps communities see the invisible architecture of their environments—the ways stairs, signage, transport, and policy either liberate or confine—and offers tools to transform those spaces into places of healing, dignity, and participation. This resonates deeply with the work we’ve begun at MCAD through our exploration of spatial justice. Like Jenny, we see the built environment as either a container of harm or a vessel for possibility. Inclusive design is not aesthetic--it is ethical. It is practical. It is profoundly human.

If we acknowledge that some people are shackled by invisible bonds in their surroundings, denied the chance to meet their needs and live in dignity. If we accept that disease and distress coalesce in parts of our towns and cities and ignore it or consider it an acceptable price to pay for profit and the sake of convenience, we make cities cruel and inefficient places. Such places squander human potential, where the benefits of progress accrue to some inhabitants whilst the costs are paid by others. This imposes a huge burden on society through the impacts of disease, is wasteful in precious and limited urban land and denies people the chance to thrive.

The costs to achieve it will be significant, the costs of not achieving it will be even greater

In the quote above it is evident that Donovan exemplifies creative leadership in its most courageous form. She challenges us to imagine justice in public—and to design for it with humility, care, and unwavering attention to those most often left out. At MCAD, we are learning to meet that challenge of becoming architects of new possibility. Follow us to learn what we're up to and how YOU can join us.

In the spirit of co-creation, let us carry Jenny’s charge into our classrooms, boardrooms, studios, and streets. Let us move beyond consultation to collaboration. Let us design cities not just for efficiency, but for empathy. Not just for profit, but for people.

Let us imagine—and then build—a world where everyone belongs. Thank you, Jenny Donovan, for the moral clarity, the blueprint for justice, and the unwavering belief that we can do better.

🌀 And to our readers: What might you design if dignity was the measure?

#InclusiveDesign #SpatialJustice #CreativeLeadership #Worldmaking #DesignForRecovery #MCADLeadership #JenniferDonovan