Four Agreements for
Co-Designing with Restaurants

Spatial design is a form of cultural resilience

one

Design is lived before it’s designed

Across all interviews, the most relevant decision were born from necessity, intuition, or personal memory — not from design education or strategic planning.

three

Staying rooted in place — through location, design language, and atmosphere — is itself a political and community-building act.

four

Authenticity as translation, not replication

Authenticity is created through adaptation. Cultural design is dynamic and is rooted in heritage yet responsive to time, place, and community evolution.

two

Care is a design method

Trust appears as the invisible infrastructure of every success story. Designing for community requires emotional intelligence (listening, reciprocity, and shared authorship) as essential tools of practice.

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“Alma Alcocer reinterprets Mexican home cooking for Austin’s context.”
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“Sisters from Veracruz All Natural wanted to recreate the palapas from their home state in Mexico. ”
“Jesús from Mr. Natural builds trust through representation in the Merchants Association.”
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