DESIGN THINKING AND MEASURED IMPACT
The Climigrant’s Sketchbook Initiative leverages the power of design thinking to create innovative and impactful solutions. By embracing this human-centered approach, the platform ensures that the needs, perspectives, and experiences of refugees are at the forefront, making visible the testimony of the dispossessed that are often overlooked. The resources provided on Climigrant’s Sketchbook are user-friendly, accessible, and tailored to address the unique challenges faced by climate migrants. Regular user feedback and engagement contribute to continuous improvement and adaptation of the platform.
Architects are liaisons. In our practice, we are often tasked with bringing people together, whether it be contractors, builders, workers, suppliers, politicians, and community leaders. We create a space for conversation in order to ensure that our projects advance smoothly and equitably for all parties involved. In the same way that we engage others from within the architectural sphere, these practices of engagement can be applied to disciplines outside of design such as - policy makers, tribal leaders, anthropologists, lawyers, scientists, healthcare workers and other professionals. This is known as “Systems Design,” a collaborative form of making that relies heavily on the relationship between multiple disciplines to create a multifaceted understanding of space.
Participatory Design, otherwise known as co-design, is a design process in which the designer engages and incorporates the community members into the designing and decision making process to develop a final design outcome. It is a proactive, not reactionary, process that seeks friction in order to address potential shortfalls of design implementation. Participatory designers seek to understand the history of a place, not ignoring contradictions or embracing convenience. The participatory design process seeks to understand the relationships between actors to deduce key questions. This is a process intended to be guided by community members, and also serves as a reminder that the role of the architect is decentralized. It is in this interdisciplinarity, not within the individual but within the collective, that we begin to see equitable change emerge.