Katie Swenson on love as a driver for design for all

Architect, affordable housing expert, and leadership cultivator Katie Swenson joined MASS Design Group early this year, after years at Enterprise Community Partners, where she expanded the Rose Fellowship, bringing design expertise into collaboration with communities. While Katie was a Loeb Fellow at Harvard GSD, she asked: “What role do love and kindness play in urban design?” Love is also at the core of Katie’s two new books (Schiffer Publishing, 2020). In Bohemia: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Kindness, which Katie wrote following the death of her partner, is also about architecture, history, and home. Design with Love: At Home in America, chronicles the work of the Rose Fellowship, uplifting these collaborations.