Design Center Pittsburgh

Design Center Pittsburgh works to make design and planning more accessible to communities while empowering residents to increase their quality of place and life.

Since 1968, Design Center Pittsburgh has been a national leader in public interest design and community planning. We work to make design and planning more accessible to communities while empowering residents to increase their quality of life and place. As the only community design organization in the Pittsburgh region, the Design Center has developed a unique approach to design and engagement through hundreds of delivered projects. Our approach creates a balance of data analysis and community input. We provide an analysis of existing and collected data to support communities in building their capacity for data driven decision making. We support the community in developing a vision and road map through the design phase that will help them reach their goals. We work with dozens of local firms that deliver professional design services through our community engagement framework. This allows us to provide the best expertise for each project and community need, and support the work of local designers. We believe that our work doesn't stop when the design phase ends. We work with communities to translate previous community plans, facilitate resource partners, and provide ongoing community support as needed through implementation. We also develop and deliver educational activities throughout the year that support the region in understanding and driving social change within the built environment.