Disaster Recovery

Is Resilience Still Relevant? As the world faces a rising tide of disasters and climate-induced migration, there are serious questions as to whether the design community is prepared to offer solutions meaningful to the crises humanity faces.

Community Development
Housing
Resilience

87 | Experiments in Resilience Amid the Backloop

Is Resilience Still Relevant? Wakefield is an Urban Studies Foundation Research Fellow at Florida International University in the Department of Global and Sociocultural Studies. Her work, developed over the past decade of teaching and research in New York City, explores the diverse practices and technologies of resilient urbanism as both technical phenomenon and catalysts of new kinds of life in the Anthropocene.

Conflict and Disaster
Resilience
Urban Strategies

Architecture for Humanity

2013 Prize Winner

Vision Award Recipient

What is the role of architects in communities in need? Cameron Sinclair and Kate Stohr, recipients of the first Curry Stone Design Prize Vision Award, have been committed to social impact design since co-founding Architecture for Humanity in 1999.

Community Development
Conflict and Disaster

Auroville Earth Institute

Can traditional building techniques serve modern needs? Auroville Earth Institute leads in the research and implementation of earth-based & sustainable building. Their work inspires groups all over the world to take up the practice of sustainable building.

Community Development
Environment

bcWORKSHOP

Can architects build community as well as buildings? bcWORKSHOP works in neighborhoods lacking access to designers. Its programs are committed to building community and begin by acknowledging that social structure is the best guide to designing physical structures.

Community Development
Housing

Build Change

What is needed to rebuild resiliently after a disaster? Denver-based non-profit Build Change designs disaster-resistant houses and schools for emerging nations, then trains builders, homeowners, engineers and government officials to build them using simple, culturally appropriate, and cost-effective techniques.

Community Development
Conflict and Disaster

Communitere

Should disaster victims be empowered to create their own recovery? Communitere is an international disaster nonprofit operating that creates dynamic, collaborative hubs in communities affected by disaster, empowering residents to take an active role in their own recovery.

Community Development
Conflict and Disaster

Elemental

2010 Prize Winner

Can public housing be designed to encourage resident ownership? Elemental is a Chilean architectural firm that rose to prominence by building low income urban dwellers “half a good house,” that residents could complete on their own.

Community Development
Urban Strategies

GeoHazards International

Can best practices in seismic safety be employed in the developing world? GeoHazards International (GHI) is a California based non-profit which works to bring the best practices in seismic safety from the developed world to the developing world.

Advocacy
Conflict and Disaster

Gulf Coast Community Design Studio

How can the community be integrated into the rebuilding process? Established in Biloxi, Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina, to provide design services to devastated communities in the Mississippi Gulf Coast, GCCDS' services today include support for long-term sustainability and community prosperity.

Community Development
Urban Strategies

Heritage Foundation of Pakistan

Can post disaster housing be sustainable and respectful of local vernacular? The Heritage Foundation of Pakistan is one of the world’s most successful providers of sustainable, resilient disaster relief structures. They are also involved in historic conservation projects in Pakistani villages.

Conflict and Disaster

Hsieh Ying-Chun

2011 Prize Winner

How can a community contribute to a post-disaster rebuilding process? Hsieh Ying-Chun is a Taiwanese architect who works throughout Asia training villagers to build locally-appropriate dwellings in response to earthquake devastation.

Community Development
Conflict and Disaster
Environment

Hunnarshala

2013 Prize Winner

How can artisans build a resilient community? Hunnarshala works with artisans to combine traditional building techniques with innovation. They are also engaged in training and empowering artisan entrepreneurs, bringing them into the mainstream of construction.

Conflict and Disaster
Environment
Housing

Ishinomaki 2.0

How can a disaster be a catalyst for new visions? After the 2011 earthquake and tsunami destroyed their home, the founders of Ishinomaki 2.0 came together with the goal of rebuilding humble Ishinomaki into the ‘most interesting city in the world’.

Advocacy
Urban Strategies

MASS Design Group

2012 Prize Winner

Why invest in architecture in resource-limited settings? MASS Designs has worked in over a dozen countries, bringing the value—and power, of architecture to resource-limited communities.

Conflict and Disaster
Healthcare

Proximity Designs

2013 Prize Winner

Can design help raise the income of small hold farmers in Myanmar? Proximity Designs is a sustainable development group that works to improve the lives of the rural poor in Myanmar.

Community Development

Rural Urban Framework (RUF)

2015 Prize Winner

Can design address China’s rural to urban migration? Imbalances caused by rural to urban migrations is an urgent geopolitical issue. In China, the issue is accelerating. Rural Urban Framework (RUF) works to stabilize and rebuild depopulated Chinese villages.

Community Development
Housing

Sergio Palleroni

Can social impact design be taught? Sergio Palleroni is a leader, practitioner and educator in social impact design. In 1995, Palleroni founded the BASIC Initiative, a program that moved students from the design studio into communities.

Community Development
Environment

Yatin Pandya