Design Emergencies: Interrogating Innovation in Aid and Development

A Special Issue of the Third World Quarterly, guest edited by Laura Nkula-Wenz (ACC Lecturer and Researcher) and Tania Messell is now LIVE. Please join us for a virtual launch of this edition, which investigates the growing trend since the 1960s of using ‘design’ and ‘design thinking’ to solve urgent global problems. The articles look at historical and current examples of this phenomenon, such as:

– The design of refugee shelters.
– Biometric technologies used to register refugees.
– New sanitation systems in South Africa, like waterless toilets.
– Storytelling products used to combat disease in Kenya.
– State-led programmes to ‘improve’ traditional crafts in Chile

The Special Issue argues that while design promises to help, its role is complicated and needs to be criticised. Ultimately, the Special Issue concludes that design is never neutral. It argues that for design to be truly helpful, it must become more self-aware, context-sensitive, and decolonial.

The webinar will feature a moderated conversation with some of the contributing authors about the “promising directions for future research on the entanglements of design, humanitarian aid, and development in times of overlapping emergencies”.

🗓 Monday, 22 June 2026
⏰ 15h00 – 16h00
📌 Register on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/jC_mk3-lQA2C4dDKLnkpxg