The relationship between humanitarianism and design is longstanding. From the architectural design of refugee camps and aid compounds, through the engineering of water pumps and other technical objects, towards the institutional design of humanitarian law itself, different actors have long been engaging a mix of material, technological, ideational, and aesthetic interventions into humanitarian crisis. Nonetheless, in recent years, that relationship has been radicalized. Today, commercial entities, architectural offices, engineering schools, and others define themselves as engaged with the task of humanitarian design, deemed a direct and material conduit for expressing care. This form of engagement emerges as a self-critique of various design disciplines prior neglect of humanitarian suffering globally, but also as an implicit critique of more traditional modes of humanitarian action focused on legal, institutional, and other interventions.
In their recent debate, Jonathan Luke Austin, Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Copenhagen, Gilles Carbonnier, Vice President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Professor of Development Economics at the Geneva Graduate Institute, Javier Fernández Contreras, Associate Professor of Interior Architecture and Dean of the Department of Interior Architecture/ Space Design at HEAD - Genève (HES-SO), Pascal Hufschmid, Director of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum and Anna Leander, Professor of International Relations and Political Science and Chair of the Department of International Relations and Political Science at the Geneva Graduate Institute explored the future of humanitarian design. Or, rather, its possible futures.
