Upwards of 250 million people around the world are affected by disasters every year. Such an overwhelming figure undoubtedly stems from our present-day increased awareness, as global news leaps the obstacles and frontiers that once kept it local. However, despite the daunting scale of the statistic, there is hope, for with this mass-media knowledge of scale and heart-rending social detail comes both the common urge to help fellow humans in distress and, in the case of the United Nations (UNISDR), the incentive to develop strategies to reduce the effects of disasters.

Yet this is a most complex issue with the minutiae of each local situation demanding specific resolution. It is therefore particularly inspiring and exciting to hear of a move to use that most modern of frontier-leaping facilities – the Internet – to delve into localised areas and alleviate disasters. With the aim of focusing many creative brains on disaster reduction, Global Design Village is launching a worldwide competition. In effect this unique Finnish-based website is creating a virtual think-tank in cyberspace designed to bring forth ideas and innovations to reduce the power of disasters to cause loss of life and human suffering.

By incentivizing people from all over the world, many of whom will have vital local knowledge of pending disasters or experience of actual disasters, the competition will focus many relevant minds on the problem. Supporting their company’s aims of co-operation and communal effort between peoples of all countries, GDV’s founder and managing director, Erik Brunskill says, ‘we passionately believe that through the use of the Internet we can capture the ideas of many people all over the world which would not normally be possible. Our fervent hope is that they will come up with really good and original designs and ideas for disaster reduction.’ Fellow founder and chairman Simon Doran adds, ‘we strongly believe that everyone has the potential for an idea, if one of these ideas saves one life and helps reduce the impact of disasters, then our vision for the project will be fulfilled.’

The Scottish entrepreneurs explain further, ‘We are strong believers in the power of the Internet and our vision is to harness this power and create a unique 21st Century community in which design can be utilized to its true potential for the benefit, not only of business, but also of humanity and society as a whole.’


With its topic -

- the competition is open to students, professionals and the general public worldwide. By having an emphasis upon reduction, the competition seeks entries over the Internet that offer both physical and organisational responses that will improve disaster mitigation, and hazard intelligence, anywhere in the world.

Submission, review and judging of all entries will be managed through GDV’s website www.globaldesignvillage.com and the general public will be encouraged to participate by ‘rating’ the solutions that are entered. The Judging panel will incorporate young up-and-coming designers, internationally respected and established designers, representatives from sponsors, experts in disaster reduction, distinguished international figureheads and people who have experienced disasters.

By means of a case study on disaster reduction in Peru, Aalto University’s Design Factory in Finland will demonstrate the usage and benefits of GDV’s virtual ‘design laboratory’. This work will set the scene and give examples of suitable competition entries. For their contribution, Aalto postgraduate students will be able to earn credits in their Master’s Degree in Design and Business Management. This case study will be repeated for other countries.

As a grand finale the winners will showcase their work at a themed event at a prestigious venue in Helsinki on the UN’s International Day of Disaster Reduction, 10 October 2012.

The competition is to be officially launched on 8 May 2011 to an audience of 2000 at the United Nations Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in Geneva. Those present will include senior government officials, international business community, media etc. GDV will start accepting entries from 1 March 2011 with the closing date for entries 31 May 2012. " I'm pleased that Global Design Village has chosen to launch this innovative competition at the Global Platform.  It drives home our core message that disaster risk reduction is everybody's business. said Margareta Wahlström, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction. "  It will be the first time in UNISDR's history that the wider public -- including fashion as well as office space designers, and even artists who design packaging -- will be invited to think about disaster risk reduction, alongside the usual actors such as engineers and builders.  I expect this ever widening and inclusive approach to disaster risk reduction continues beyond the Platform."

From the competition a database of research material will result, based on real-life accounts by people who have experienced a disaster, with problem identification and ideas for solutions. Post-competition this will constitute an ongoing facility aiding future developments as well as progressing the implementation of the best ideas. In the longer term the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) is keen on exploring the potential for GDV to run the competition on a regular basis. Based on the experience from the first competition, this model could be used to implement disaster reduction solutions as an on-going benefit worldwide. Among the partners and sponsors so far enthused by the project are Aalto University, Lumo Research Oy, INS AB and Kinetic Pixel.fi.

If you want to participate and make a difference then visit the website at www.globaldesignvillage.com


Caption 1

Peru safety zones during earthquakes.
© Practical Action

Caption 2
Peru Woman in front of earthquake resistant housing in Moquegua.
© Practical Action

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