Flourishing Together: How Design Can Help People and the Planet Thrive | Alan Ricks

Alan Ricks | Flourishing Together: How Design Can Help People and the Planet Thrive

Drawing on 15 years of nonprofit practice, Alan Ricks, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of MASS, reflects on how architecture can move beyond scarcity thinking toward abundance, creating places that foster well-being, belonging, dignity, beauty, and joy. He outlines MASS’s model of research, catalyst projects, and knowledge-sharing, and highlights how design can intervene where markets and politics often fall short.

In this opening reflection for Session 3: Flourishing at Abundant Futures / Live, Alan R sets the stage for the final session of the day by grounding the audience in MASS’s mission and long-term vision for design as an act of care.


From Rwanda to the United States, this session introduces the day’s themes, Wellbeing, Belonging, and Flourishing, into a hopeful framework for imagining futures where communities, ecosystems, and institutions thrive across generations.