Finally, some Dialogue. Design with the Other 90%: CITIES
On view October 15 - January 9, 2012 Location: Main Gallery, United Nations Visitors Lobby
The groundbreaking 2007 “Design for the Other 90%” exhibition has been developed into an ongoing series that will continue to focus on design solutions that address the 90 percent of the world’s population not traditionally serviced by the professional design community.
“Design with the Other 90%: CITIES,” the second exhibition in the series, will examine the complex issues arising from the unprecedented rate of urban growth projected to take place over the next 20 years, primarily in the informal settlements of the global south. Organized by Cynthia Smith, curator of socially responsible design, along with a 10 person advisory committee, the exhibition will explore the multidisciplinary, overlapping relationships among urban planning and design, education, social entrepreneurship, climate change, sanitation and water, migration, public health and affordable housing in these communities. As part of “Design with the Other 90%: CITIES,” the museum will make the information it gathers in the field accessible through an online open-network database, which will enable designers, communities and other stakeholders to work together to develop design solutions to these challenges. This important dialogue will also continue through a scholarly catalog and robust education programs.
What is interesting to me, was the sponsorship for this project:
- Sponsored by: CitiBank
- Generous support: The Rockerfeller Foundation
- Additional funding: Procter & Gamble, Deutsche Bank…(and other research institutes).
This group makes strange bed fellows for a project like this. It’s good and important that they be involved; it tales both sides (1% and 99%) to work together for a solution that works for everyone. And, they had such a big hand in creating what we are dealing with today, I hope their contributions here amount to something significant.
