Social Designs is an international project founded by UNESCO in 1995. It is concerned with the design and creation of beautiful buildings and spaces in support of human culture, education and social progress. Social Design is a discipline of imaginative social science that seeks to understand the relationships between people, culture and space at the interface of life. It is concerned with the integration of knowledge into daily life and design of spaces and environments. It is also concerned with the interaction of people within architecture and interior decoration practices and designs.

Social design is essentially the application of sociological design methodology to address complex social problems, putting the social concerns as the top priority. Historically, social design has historically been conscious of the social function of the designer, and the pivotal role of the creative process in creating social change. However, in the last decades, the social aspect of designing became secondary, as architects and designers concentrated more on the technical aspects of design. With increasing globalisation, more people came to live in metropolitan centres and increasing numbers of people with jobs began to form corporate cultures. The process of social change did not receive the necessary priority or respect.

The major components of social design include participation, involvement. The essence of involvement lies in the fact that the designer is required to have an active role in the social decision making processes in order to understand the social problems and find effective solutions. Involvement is required in the sense that the designers should participate in the process of social change themselves and should be active participants in the design and social change projects. This involvement should be understood by the designing team as well as the client so that they can build understanding and trust. Another important concept is the time perspective.

The primary objective of social designs is to create an atmosphere of inclusion and engagement, to ensure the active participation of everybody. In addition to this, a social design should also try and minimize the factors that might exclude the participants from the social process. The ultimate aim of social designs is to provide a safe space for everyone in the community.

The success of any social design lies in its ability to create spaces where different people from different backgrounds and from different cultures can interact with each other. This interaction creates a sense of belongingness and promotes community spirit. It is because of this that social designs have gained tremendous popularity amongst architects all over the world. In India, the demand for such designs has been on the rise ever since the government started subsidising housing communities for the first time. Since then, architects have been concentrating their efforts on developing more such communities and in developing efficient social designs.

There are two basic principles on which social designs are based. The first principle refers to the use of basic human needs to drive social change. As for the second principle, it is supposed that the designing process should be inclusive of an evaluation of how the social changes will affect the physical environment as well. The objective of every social design should be the promotion of social change by making people feel that they are a part of something larger than themselves. As mentioned earlier, the primary reason why people get involved in social activities is to belong to a community and make social changes so that they can enjoy the benefits of belonging to a community. This is what every social design tries to achieve.

The development of social designs has gained momentum in the last few years. However, the challenge still remains that there is not much awareness among the general population about the need for social designs in their lives. A lot of effort is being made by many designers to create such designs and make social change a reality for people. The need for such designs is felt most when people have to adapt to a new environment in their daily lives.

Community involvement and group dynamics play an important role in the social design processes. These processes help the users interact with each other in a better way. They also help people understand each other better which helps them promote social norms. Social design can also be used to create an identity for communities. Different types of social designs such as participatory action research, web mapping, community building, web conferencing etc are being used these days.