Humanitarian Design: Join Efforts in the Face of Uncertainty

Abstract

Humanitarian design is a term that can be used to describe the process of designing products, services or systems for populations affected by natural and/or man-made disasters. At the intersection between humanitarian action and design, lie new skills to be taught and opportunities to launch a new generation of designers into new horizons, giving them applied challenges to deal with social vulnerabilities, contexts of high uncertainty and a multitude of stakeholders and competing priorities. Teaching and promoting Humanitarian Design among young designers and individuals from different professional backgrounds is essential at a time when increased prevalence of disasters, combined with reduced public spending and rapidly changing geopolitical situations, challenge our conceptions of humanitarian crisis, where they unfold and who they affect. This seminar was held with the aim to shed light onto different empirical perspectives of humanitarian design, its challenges, and futures, and to determine what can be learned from these practices to strengthen safety and emergency preparedness in face of expected societal collapses and crisis affecting Europe. These two days, made possible by the Norwegian Research Council under the portfolio theme Democracy and Governance, included a panel of 11 international speakers with different backgrounds and contributions for humanitarian action, a participative reflection workshop, and featured student project presentations.