Essay: Maria Popova

The Language of Design Imperialism

A key point of failure in today's global design landscape lies precisely in the jargon — we need to invent new ways of writing, talking and thinking about concepts of "humanitarian design."

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Project: Ernest Beck

Camel Mobile Clinic Update

The latest on a system for conveying medicine to inaccessible desert regions.

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Project: William Underhill

Map Kibera

In just a few months, a team of local youngsters using simple handheld GPS technology, produced an online open-source digital map of one of Africa's largest slums.

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Primary Sources: The Editors

Neville Brody Wants You

This is a call for submissions for the inaugural Anti Design Festival, which will run from 18-26 September on and around Redchurch Street in Shoreditch, London. The ADF is Neville Brody's response to an invitation to contribute to the London Design Festival, and gathers contributions of art and design that challenge contemporary stereotypes. This is work that is seen as un-commercial, dangerous, and anti-establishment.

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Miscellaneous: Vera Sacchetti

Virtue Rewarded: Design and Social Innovation Prizes

Every year, vast sums rain down benevolently on people working in design and social innovation. Here we describe nine awards programs that regularly bestow cash prizes of $100,000 or more.

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Report: Ernest Beck

The World as Our Studio

Change Observer has begun reporting on the different ways design firms are tackling humanitarian projects. Here, we feature Worldstudio, which has been dedicated to socially responsible design since 1993.

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Miscellaneous: The Editors

Humanitarian Design vs. Design Imperialism: Debate Summary

Bruce Nussbaum started a firestorm with the question "Is humanitarian design the new imperialism?" — and the conversation has spread through the blogosphere. Here, a digest of essays and related posts on this subject.

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Essay: Robert Fabricant

In Defense of Design Imperialism

Is the local model the only way to meaningfully engage in social-impact initiatives, as Bruce Nussbaum suggests? Are American designers who want to have an impact on global issues in emerging markets kidding themselves?

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Project: Phil Patton

Murray T.25 City Car

Gordon Murray's recently unveiled T.25 prototype promises to be the most efficient, if not the most adorable, urban car in existence.

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Observed

Time managing editor Richard Stengel defends a disturbing cover image. [JL]

Observed

The Universitat Internacional de Catalunya in Barcelona is offering a nine-month masters degree program in sustainable emergency architecture. The program, which is taught in English, is "one of the very few in the world to specialize in post-disaster reconstruction and humanitarian projects." Faculty includes Sergio Palleroni. [JL]

Gallery: Photo by Pieter Hugo

Permanent Error

Pieter Hugo, Untitled, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana 2010.>>

Observed

"Are your Nikes greener than your Adidas?" Phil Patton on the newly developed Eco Index measuring the environmental and human-rights impact of apparel brands. [JL]

Observed

Allison Arieff channels ideas for improving Long Island's suburbs. [JL]

Observed

Why you should be depressed (today) about global climate change. And what you can do to lift the gloom. [JL]

Observed

Vaseline, which is owned by Unilever, launches a Facebook app to promote a skin-lightening product in south Asia. "This isn't the first time Unilever has drawn serious controversy for its less-than-discreet attempts to market the virtues of white skin in India." [JL]

Observed

"Where are the examples of American democracy and freedom, of American know-how and imagination, and of American heroes?" Fred Bernstein on the U.S. pavilion at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. [JL]

Observed

"It's a harsh reality that the vast bulk of the world's ability to solve system-scale problems is concentrated in wealthy countries. If a bright green model of prosperity is going to be invented... big chunks of it will have to come from the Global North and be spread through partnerships between the North and South." Alex Steffen on global design contributions and the developing world. [JL]

Observed

Designed by a scholar at IIT Bombay, and chosen from among 3,000 designs, the Rupee now has its own symbol. (And a perspective by a leading Indian designer on the new symbol.) [JL]

Gallery: Patrick Chappatte

Study in Contrasts

"Soccer Celebration in Africa," published in NZZ am Sonntag (Zurich), June 13, 2010.>>

Observed

In the recent brouhaha over social design interventions, Bruce Nussbaum responds to his critics, while Frontline reports on the PlayPump fiasco. [JL]

Gallery: Mike Sinclair

Midway at the Oasis

Midway, Neshoba County Fair, Philadelphia, Mississippi, 1990.>>

Gallery: Julie Lasky

Protect Me from What I Want

In 2002, a slim Asian-Canadian New Yorker in his twenties, who often gave the impression of being the most negligible person in a room, approached the artist Jenny Holzer at a Manhattan gallery and asked her to inscribe a message on his forearm. >>

Gallery: Elizabeth Helman Minchilli, Annie Schlechter

Rome Sustainable Food Project

For over two decades, chef, author and founder of Chez Panisse, Alice Waters has been working tirelessly to change the way we eat in America. Four years ago, she sent chef Mona Talbott to put her words into action at the American Academy in Rome. >>

Gallery: Jason Orton

Tinder Boxes

Unfortunately, planners and developers frequently see landscapes likes these as blank canvases that can be cleared or leveled flat. >>

Gallery: Lyle Owerko

The Butterfly People

Samburu tribe members from Kenya.>>