Curricular Design
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Emergency Learning Lab
Sustaining Educational Community in Times of Distress
Disasters strike when we least expect them and we cannot anticipate where we will be when they happen. The Big One could leave 250,000-400,000 quake refugees in California. But what gets less attention is the aftermath. Where will we be? Where will we go? How will we continue? In the San Francisco Bay Area, more than 400,000 could be displaced according to the LA Times it’s possible that more than 250,000 people in Southern California could be forced out of their homes. Not everyone will need to stay in public shelters — many will stay with relatives, friends and hotels.
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Pop-up communities Of course any idea of learning continuity during an urban emergency is contingent on basic safety and wellness.
many may be forced to move away “for at least several months, and possibly permanently” due to the region’s housing shortage, according to a separate USGS report on a hypothetical Northern California earthquake, called HayWired.
“So many people will be displaced they won’t be able to stay within the metro area,” Keith Porter, a University of Colorado Boulder professor and chief engineer of the USGS earthquake reports, said of a major Bay Area earthquake. “So they’ll move away, just like they moved away from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.”
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Disasters strike when we least expect them and we cannot anticipate where we will be when they happen. This course sees the unexpectedness of displacement as an opportunity to not just to sustain community but to construct a new community or "Neighborhood" fueled by the unique situation you happen to be in, at this time. The people around you might be strangers and the specific challenges of the emergency difficult, but if they are viewed with the right Mindset. Designers and Artists are valued for their open and positive Mindsets.
WELCOME TO THE CAIL EMERGENCY LEARNING LAB:
Build a New Neighborhood Around You . . .
Wherever You Are.
All of us in Creative Action (CAIL) and Otis College of Art and Design, hope you, your loved ones and friends, and your animal companions are doing as well as possible under these difficult circumstances.
One of our great assets as a program, as a college, and as designers and artists is that we are able to sustain community in times of acute distress, and so first and foremost, let’s please keep in touch with updates on how we are all doing. If you have any particular need, please let everyone know; maybe one of us can help. You can respond to this post below whenever you like.
As you by now know, the Otis College of Art and Design campus is temporarily closed and will remain closed until further notice. Please make sure you regularly check your Otis College email for updates. Hopefully we will be back together in Westchester very soon.
In the meanwhile, we will be conducting classes online here.
Disasters strike when we least expect them and we cannot anticipate where we will be when they happen. This course sees the unexpectedness of displacement as an opportunity to not just to sustain community but to construct a new community or "Neighborhood" fueled by the unique situation you happen to be in, at this time. The people around you might be strangers and the specific challenges of the emergency
difficult, but if they are viewed with the right Mindset. Designers and Artists are valued for their open and positive Mindsets.http://www.designkit.org/mindsets Disaster Displacement is a unique opportunity to embody an open Mindset in order to rebuild Community and Social Capital.