PieLab is a production of designer and social designer John Bielenberg’s Project M in Greensboro, Alabama. It all started by taking a risk and serving up slices of pie in hopes of getting some much-needed conversation going.
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In case you didn’t know, Greensboro is one of the poorest cities in the nation and struggles with deep-seeded racism and poverty. At the time PieLab was developed the main street area had basically no businesses open and the community did not have any place to meet and chat. With that in mind, the designers of Project M immersed themselves in the culture and came up with a plan: create a space for conversation and serve pie. In fact,
“The plan was simply to open PieLab’s doors, begin conversations with the people of Greensboro and encourage them to create progressive initiatives of their own … PieLab was a success. There was music, courtesy of a customer with an acoustic guitar. The crowd was diverse. Ideas were exchanged. Intergenerational friendships were forged …” (NYTimes).
It seemed to be a success. PieLab is still open for business, although things have changed a bit.
Once again, community was created through social design interventions.
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In each of the last three case studies designers are using their talents (art, making pie, teaching, etc.) to create an innovative approach to bringing people together to proliferate a sense of community. This design approach makes the idea of changing the world seem easier to achieve. Through social design, designers can use their talents to bring people together and make small changes to big problems. This is what I’ve been working on the last three years. 
