AFTERMATH – RESEARCH & SYSTEM DESIGN FOR A DISASTER RELIEF PLATFORM
Tackling the housing crisis after the 2020 Beirut port explosion – Investigating the joint role of designers and the community in bringing disaster relief
Year: 2021Advisor: Stefana Maja Broadbent
Masters Thesis – MSc in Product Service System Design + MSc in Management Engineering
Website: https://diversityandinclusion.polimi.it/en/the-circle-italia-onlus-e-tiffany-co-per-il-premio-nellie-award-italia/
https://www.thecircleitalia.org/nellie-award-italia-2021/
https://www.harpersbazaar.com/it/cultura/costume/a36809851/nelly-bly-chi-e/
THE ABSTRACT
Beirut Lebanon, August 4 2020, 18:08 – 2 750 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded in the Port of Beirut causing more than 200 deaths, 6 500 injuries, €12 billion in property damage, and 300 000 homeless people. An unimaginable man-made disaster that could have been avoided, destroyed the capital of my country along with the hopes and dreams of a whole nation. A nation battling with a failed economy, a plunging currency, a rising poverty rate, a violent political unrest and a devastating COVID-19 pandemic, has no reliable government to turn to for disaster relief. The community stepped in to help the people affected by the blast. A substantial grassroot movement surged to connect experts, engineers, architects, designers and any volunteer to pick up the pieces of a failed institution. However, amidst a traumatic shock mixed with feelings of sorrow and anger, a systemic problem surfaced. Volunteers were ready, aids were coming in, but a proper allocation of those rebuilding efforts was misplaced. The fragmentation of all the bodies and actors was one of the reasons behind this. This thesis aims to investigate the dynamics of the joint roles of all those actors in bringing disaster relief with a specific focus on the housing crisis. It adopts a community-based open-source approach embracing an architectural and urban point of view and proposing a product service system design that can be
implemented in times of crisis. Despite the retrospectivity of the thesis, the proposed system considers the possibility of serving other unforeseeable emergencies as well. This system aims to link all different actors (experts, initiatives, NGOs, victims, donors etc.) as well as organize and facilitate all the flows that come into play in the aftermath of a lingering disaster.
Beirut port explosion − disaster relief − housing crisis − collaborative platform − open source − open data
The following content is selected from the thesis book.
The thesis won the Nellie Award Italia 2021 for Best Post-Grad Thesis, awarded by Tiffany & Co., The Circle Italia, and Politecnico di Milano.
Beirut Lebanon, August 4 2020, 18:08 – 2 750 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded in the Port of Beirut causing more than 200 deaths, 6 500 injuries, €12 billion in property damage, and 300 000 homeless people. An unimaginable man-made disaster that could have been avoided, destroyed the capital of my country along with the hopes and dreams of a whole nation. A nation battling with a failed economy, a plunging currency, a rising poverty rate, a violent political unrest and a devastating COVID-19 pandemic, has no reliable government to turn to for disaster relief. The community stepped in to help the people affected by the blast. A substantial grassroot movement surged to connect experts, engineers, architects, designers and any volunteer to pick up the pieces of a failed institution. However, amidst a traumatic shock mixed with feelings of sorrow and anger, a systemic problem surfaced. Volunteers were ready, aids were coming in, but a proper allocation of those rebuilding efforts was misplaced. The fragmentation of all the bodies and actors was one of the reasons behind this. This thesis aims to investigate the dynamics of the joint roles of all those actors in bringing disaster relief with a specific focus on the housing crisis. It adopts a community-based open-source approach embracing an architectural and urban point of view and proposing a product service system design that can be
implemented in times of crisis. Despite the retrospectivity of the thesis, the proposed system considers the possibility of serving other unforeseeable emergencies as well. This system aims to link all different actors (experts, initiatives, NGOs, victims, donors etc.) as well as organize and facilitate all the flows that come into play in the aftermath of a lingering disaster.
Beirut port explosion − disaster relief − housing crisis − collaborative platform − open source − open data
The following content is selected from the thesis book.
The thesis won the Nellie Award Italia 2021 for Best Post-Grad Thesis, awarded by Tiffany & Co., The Circle Italia, and Politecnico di Milano.
