Design for Climate Migration: Insights and Considerations from Fictional Storytelling and Representation
By: Rebecca Rhee
Tags: Migration, Research Paper Writing, Fiction

Rebecca Rhee | Masters of Design Seminar |Fall 2020

ABSTRACT

Climate migration has become an increasing topic of focus in conversations of climate change. Environmental research has increased to include migration as a growing issue of climate change. Forced migration leaves affected populations in vulnerable positions. However, there has yet to be much traction around frameworks for design to address migration. For insight into design considerations l look to fictional representations to draw from imagined prototypes of future worlds of migratory lifestyles. Analyzing the dynamic fictional representations of mobile homes and the contexts in Mortal Engines, Snowpiercer, Mother of Inventions, and Howl’s Moving Castle, they present the advantages and disadvantages of migration. The findings provide a framework of ideas to consider like the risk of perpetuating of rigid social structures, reframing the perception of migration and considerations into designing for adaptability.

INTRODUCTION

There is a growing concern about the rise of natural disasters and the effects on population displacement or forced migration. Experts and most notably, Professor Norman Myers, have claimed that by 2050 an estimated 200 million to 1 billion people will be at risk of forced migration due to climate concerns [Tacoli, 2009] [Brown, 2008]. In the event of extreme weather, massive groups are left without many alternatives and are forced to leave the familiarity of their homes. Which leave people more vulnerable due to the uncertainty of the impact. Affected communities are left to rely on the coordination of bipartisan support, investments, and host communities for assistance [Levine et.al, 2007]. But what alternatives can be offered? More specifically what can designers contribute to address this dilemma.

Climate Change and the impacts on population displacement

According to the 2019 United Nations General Assembly Press Release, there are 11 years left to prevent permanent negative effects due to climate change. Worldwide, the compressed timeline has already affected massive populations. In the United States, the country had experienced 85 major and costly disasters in the last 6 years. Each costing more than a billion dollars’ worth of damage and recovery [Smith, 2020]. In 2005, after Hurricane Katrina, it was estimated that over one million people were displaced [Smith, 2020]. Failure in the lack of effective preventative and financial aid measures to alleviate stress from potential disasters impacted recovery efforts in cities like New Orleans. Which caused the population to fall by half in the following year [Gibbons, 2019].

Earlier this year, a New York Times article reported that an estimated 90,800 residents in Irvine were forced to evacuate due to the Silverado and Blue Ridge Fires. California, having experienced consecutive major wildfires have taken an exhausting emotional and psychological toll on affected residents. Experts have predicted that wildfires will continue to get much worse which means prolonged recovery timeline and budget. But studies have shown that people are eager to return home to a state of normalcy [Tacoli, 2009]. To a time, unaffected by disaster, where the damage is no longer visible.

Social Effects of Climate Change

However, the damage left by climate disasters is not always visible. There are effects that are often ignored by political outreach like the social divide that is worsened through harrowing events. When large populations are impacted by harsh weather conditions, disproportionately affected certain groups such as minorities, homeless, and elderly communities [Levine et. al, 2007]. Almost 12 years after Hurricane Katrina, a Washington Post article written by Nakesha Elise Williams covered the disproportionate impact the hurricane had on Black and impoverished communities. The federal government launched a program called the Road Home Program that was responsible for disbursing aid to Louisiana citizens [Williams, 2020]. Financial aid was given based on either the home value before the storm or the cost of damage. This created a biased evaluation system that disadvantageously provided certain communities with minimum funding compared to their wealthier counterparts who received close to maximum aid of $150,000 [Williams, 2020]. This left underprivileged communities to rely on non-profit charities for additional relief.

Hurricane Katrina is only one example of climate change having social effects but it’s not an isolated event. It is also a reflection of the biases and rigid social and political hierarchy that poses a barrier that needs to be broken. Provisions and solutions need to be multi-faceted where the sole reliance is not limited to Institutions or governmental powers. Failures in the lack of effective measures have shown is that issues of climate change and migration is a vast and complex issue that requires multiple lenses. Lenses that look at leveraging past, present, and future climate data to ideate concepts like adaptable living. There is a need to use methods and practices in design or research in multi-disciplinary teams to look at climate change and the intersectional effects. The skillsets and multiple lenses that designers and researchers alike possess should be directed to provide viable alternatives that address stressors like the loss of home and the social vulnerability that directly follows.

Existential Design for Climate Migration

Existential design touches on approaches of human co-existence with non-human elements. Several of the points made by Anne Light et al. [2010] that I think are crucial considerations to take away, is the practice of noticing. To have a margin of effectiveness, designers should pay attention to the changes that have happened and will happen. In doing this, we might realize other facets that could benefit from design like issues of climate migration. It calls for designers to anticipate and adapt in order to provide society with the ability to do the same. It is of course, easier said than done. But to state the obvious, climate is unpredictable, at best we can only hypothesize and imagine futures. The issue of climate crisis is hard to grasp, but through design, we can begin to tease apart the facets that are tangible and start discourse for migration design. A way to address this could start by examining the relationship and influence that home has with humans.

Home as Agency

Home is a phenomenon that is both rich and complex. It is often represented in the image of idealism. Depending on context, it can be a symbol of belonging [Moore, 2000][Somerville. 1992], a reference to birthplace [Moore, 2000], to childhood, a symbol for the end of a journey [Moore, 2000]. In the physical sense, it affords privacy, shelter, security, a place to sleep. The relationship between humans and home is usually taken to mean a physical place. House and home are sometimes interchangeable. Somerville [1992] argues they are quite different, that home is an ideology that exists beyond materiality. But according to Moore [2000], many researchers argue that home is defined by the emotional relationship humans have to the physical form. In The Theory of Place Attachment, it is argues that the satisfaction, evaluation and identity that forms through owned objects are conduits for this developing bond people have with homes [Moore, 2000]. It is through these emotional attachments that positioning the concept around homes and adaptable housing could be an effective steppingstone into viewing migration through other lenses.

RELATED WORKS

Futuristic Living Spaces

As designers, what other avenues do we divert our attentions? What can design offer as alternatives that could potentially mitigate the effects of migration? In this paper I consider looking into adaptable mobile homes and identify possible design practices as an alternative avenue. The concept of adaptable structures is not new. There are existing patents for modular homes that can be deployed in a matter of hours. At MIT, a recent apartment project utilized AI and kinetic architecture to design a space that shifted based on the user’s needs. The MIT projects reveals that adaptable architecture is possible. Society is not so far off from having adaptable smart homes [MIT News, 2018].

Other studies surround adaptable housing have focused on the driving factors of future climate change to construct homes that dually accommodate for exterior changes while having considerations the inhabitants needs [Kiannane et. al, 2017]. In this study, the group analyzes a case study home that was built from exterior to interior with adaptation in mind. Where every aspect, from top to bottom has features designed in to allow future expansion or flexibility to include additional adjustments. Furthermore, the research group uses future predictions of climate change to leverage further improvements like solar shading to prevent situations of overheating due to rising temperatures [Kiannane et. al, 2017]. Ultimately the argument is made that due to climate predictions, it is imperative that buildings like homes are designed with adaptability to maintain ease and comfort against harsh rising or falling temperatures.

Archigram: A Walking City

Beyond real world cases, fiction is abundant with speculative homes design. Homes that move or shrink at will. An example of related works that explore the impossible was an avant-garde group called Archigram. Archigram existed between 1961–1974, the group of architectures used technology such as modular designs as a way to inspire imagined new realities [Rowlings, 2018]. They explored concepts and experimented with ideas of how technology could change and impact surrounding environments. One notable project that I wanted to touch upon was Ron Herron’s concept called ‘A Walking City’.

Walking Cities, 1964. Photograph: © Herron Archive

Herron’s design was formed around a world that has been affected by nuclear damage and ideated how human life could co-existed and take refuge to avoid the effects of the damage [Rowlings, 2018]. Inspired by insects and machinery, he drew walking robotic city like pods that migrated and used ‘way stations’ to collect resources wherever they went [Rowlings, 2018]. Part of the belief was the idea that cities needed the ability to adapt to change. And while certainly in this moment such structure seems implausible, they provide insight that still connect to reality.

Home on the Road: Tiny Home Campervans

Since the start of the Tiny Home movement, there’s been an increased motivation of individuals or couples attempting to build their own personalized tiny homes that are both economical, sustainable and, in some cases, mobile. Economical because it often means that owners don’t have to worry about building codes in addition to DIY building many of the features, allows for low budget production. Additionally, with the added benefit of mobility, owners are possibly exempt from property tax and instead must follow RV laws which stipulate specific dimensions and perimeters [Murphy, 2014].