Minnesota Design Center (MDC)

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More About MDC

The Minnesota Design Center (MDC) engages in system design in Minnesota and the upper Midwest. We seek innovative solutions to the design of physical systems such as infrastructure and open space as well as non-physical systems such as public health or service delivery, helping our region seize the opportunities that lie in the social, technological, environmental, and economic disruptions of our time.

Featured Project

Bush Foundation Ecosystem Grant - 2022 Report

The Minnesota Design Center (MDC) is grateful for the support of the Bush Foundation, enabling us to hire a diversity of students and support a diversity of staff and affiliates to do community-engaged work in under-served neighborhoods, districts, and cities. The 2022 Accomplishments Report is now available and summarizes the work that we have done with Bush Foundation funding. All of the work cited seeks to advance the purpose of the Ecosystem Grant program: spreading great ideas, building capacity, and growing leadership networks.

Explore Our Projects

The MDC collaborates across disciplines through academic and industry partnerships to address system design issues in Minnesota. 

View our Work
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15th Anniversary Report

For 15 years, MDC has partnered with communities across Minnesota and the upper Midwest to find innovative solutions to our communities' most pressing design problems. Learn more about the research we have conducted, the partners we've worked with, and the results of our work in our 15th Anniversary Report.

Read the report