About the Challenge
The resources available on this guide will provide a starting point for your research.
There is much more information available online than you could possibly read thoroughly. When beginning research, read the titles and summaries, to help you select resources.
Consider what sort of information will help you answer the questions that arise in your project. Some design projects may touch on more than one area; for instance, sanitation may require resources from Health, Water Supply, Energy, and Infrastructure areas. You may benefit from looking at the resources on more than one page, and thinking creatively about your information needs.
This challenge gives you the opportunity to explore solutions that bring together an engineering mindset with an understanding of culture and community-based design. Through this challenge, you will recognise the importance of a place-based design approach and working alongside community members to deliver a project that addresses community-identified priorities.
Make sure you learn as much as you can about the local environment and culture for the community you select. This will help you uncover the needs of the population your project will serve, and the opportunities and challenges that will influence your proposal. By taking the time to understand the broad context that your projects sits within, you will develop an idea that is not only technically feasible, but relevant and exciting for your stakeholders!
Humanitarian Design Project Resources
- National Indigenous Infrastructure Guide: Community InvolvementWell-designed, genuine involvement of communities across a project is also rooted in an understanding of different stakeholders along with how and when they need to be included in conversations or decision-making to move a project forward to a meaningful and sustainable outcome. Read more about involving stakeholders in the process.
- Share Our Pride: Reconciliation AustraliaThe Reconciliation Australia website has fantastic resources designed to ‘give you a glimpse of how life looks from an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspective’.
- A Right Way, Wrong Way and Better Way for Energy Engineers to Work with Aboriginal CommunitiesThis chapter from the book "Energy Justice Across Borders" discussed a hypothetical energy project, and ways engineers can work with Aboriginal and Indigenous communities to respect and meet their needs.
- Can combining STEM skills with Indigenous knowledge help remote communities?This article is written by Judd Harris, the first Indigenous Australian to study engineering at Cambridge. Can engineers "merge their STEM education with Indigenous knowledge to improve the wellbeing of people living in remote communities"?
Ground Rules in Humanitarian Design by ISBN: 9781118361443Publication Date: 2015-04-29Delve deep into the complex issues surrounding humanitarian design Ground Rules in Humanitarian Design establishes essential foundations for thinking about humanitarian design and its role in global change. Outlining a vital framework for designing for impoverished and disaster-stricken communities, this informative guide explores the integration of culture, art, architecture, economy, ecology, health, and education. Experts on land, health, water, housing, education, and planning weigh in with best practices and critical considerations during the design process, and discussion of the environmental considerations and local materials/skills will broaden your understanding of this nuanced specialty.
