This paper shares the teaching approach and student response to two University of South Australia 2023 courses. The first, a compulsory Masters Architectural Design Studio focusing on regenerative environmental and social performance outcomes. The brief tasked students to repurpose a carpark edging a green space in an inner city suburb with a speculative proposal for (700-1200sqm) civic facility for gathering, regeneration and learning- i.e. promoting social and environmental resilience. The subsequent elective course Design for Social Impact taken by a smaller cohort, tasked the students with designing the process they would follow if they specifically sought to maximise the social value of their project from the studio brief in the previous semester. This involved designing the process of social engagement and planning innovative ways to measure social impact throughout that process.
Regeneration was explored in both physical and environmental terms (carpark conversion to biodiverse community facility), as well as social with community repair, rebuilding social cohesion through design led engagement acts of care- considering social connection as generative. The paper will present both the pedagogical framework of each course and selected student responses.