A well-designed object is a thing of beauty. I’ve been known to stare at the computers in the Apple store or at the furniture in Big Country like Homer Simpson gazing at a doughnut. And we take it for granted as design influences every aspect of our lives in our wardrobe, our furnishings, and our cities. Or at least, the 10% of the world’s population that has disposable income take it for granted.
So what about the other 90% of the world? Can’t we apply the same thought and effort put into designing cars and cell phones into finding solutions to genuine problems like finding food and shelter?
"Design for the Other 90%" is an eye-opening installation of low-cost yet highly functional inventions at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York City. Engineers, designers, innovators, and social entrepreneurs take their skills and apply it to the challenges of shelter, health, water, education, energy and transportation. These things can make the difference between life and death, sustainability or starvation for not only the Third World, but for under-served populations in Industrial nations. What has resulted from these initiatives are cheap but effective ways to improve access to that which we take for granted: food, clean water, sustainable energy, education, healthcare.
Take some time and browse the Design for the Other 90% site. There are some fantastic life-changing things that can be found there, including standouts like:
The LifeStraw, a personal mobile water-purification tool is designed to turn any surface water into drinking water. It has proven to be effective against waterborne diseases such as typhoid, cholera, dysentery, and diarrhea, and removes particles as small as fifteen microns. (text: Cooper-Hewitt Museum)
Internet Village Motoman Network, mobile internet access vehicles. These vehicles travel to remote areas of Cambodia equipped with satellite uplinks and solar powered computers, giving the population access to email and the internet, and giving the population access to Telemedicine: "healthcare workers interview, examine, and digitally photograph patients, then transmits the information by satellite to physicians in Boston using a solar-powered computer. Within hours, the physicians respond with medical opinions and treatment recommendations."
Global Village Shelters are remarkably light, portable shelters. They’re made from triple wall-laminated corrugated cardboard treated with fire-resistant and waterproof coating. They’re low-cost temporary emergency shelters that can last up to eighteen months. Prefabricated, shipped flat, and requiring no tools to assemble, they are easy to deploy. The first prototypes were sent to Afghanistan and Grenada, and later used in tsunami-hit countries in Asia; Pakistan’s Azad Kashmir Province, which was devastated by an earthquake, and to Gulfport, Mississippi, after Hurricane Katrina. (text: Cooper-Hewitt Museum)
The Q Drum: round water cans that are designed to roll easily, and can transport seventy-five litres of clean and potable water. For populations who have to trek daily to a clean water source for all their water and carry it back, this can ease their burden.
The Big Boda Load-Carrying Bicycle, developed in Kenya by the design firm WorldBike, can carry eight crates of goods, three children or two adult passengers in places where bikes are the main mode of transportation. It has an extended wheel base and a lower center of gravity. (text: NPR)
Just think what some of these inventions could mean for the quality of living not just in a village in rural Africa, but for impoverished communities in Canada or even the inner-city?
I’m going to dig around a bit and look for ways to get these things into the hands of those that need them. If you hear of any initiatives like this, drop me a line in the comments.
I first heard about the exhibit in the story Functional Designs that Change Lives, on National Public Radio's "Weekend Edition".
National Design Museum: Design For The Other 90%
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