Designed to Save Lives: Artists Craft Coronavirus Messaging for Underserved Communities

Obesity is at an all-time high in the United States, and is hard to combat. But urban obesity can be countered with inviting streets to stroll, dramatic staircases to climb, parks to exercise in - it’s called “active design.”

The physical classroom environment can have profound effects on a student’s academic performance, sense of belonging, and self-esteem. What would the Platonic ideal classroom look like, illustrated? It might include more greenery, fewer visual distractions on classroom walls, and some tweaks to light sources.

The Live6 area is home to a robust cultural and creative community. And with an increase in development, there's opportunity for artists and institutions to tap into that energy to spur growth.

Too often, poor community members are not included in public discourse over how public spaces should look-- rather, the urban planning is more top-down. To change that, the UN’s Block by Block project is using the computer game Minecraft to include locals in shaping the physical spaces in their own communities by teaching them digital design skills. The UN program has engaged over 17,000 people, and 20 crowdsourced designs have already been built in cities around the world.

Did you know that the main ingredient in most chewing gum is a synthetic rubber, which resembles a close relationship to plastic? "It's called polyisobutylene," explains Anna Bullus, a British designer, "the same stuff you find in the inner tube of bicycle wheels." After realizing this, Anna decided to embark on a mission to recycle used chewing gum as a means of cleaning up the streets. What resulted was a way to create everyday products that include at least 20% gum, while simultaneously saving institutions money on what otherwise would have gone toward cleanup efforts.

In order to create a larger role for aid recipients in conversations about how success and failure are defined for international aid, the What Went Wrong project was founded. People use mobile phones to contact the journalists about a failed aid project, and the journalists gather information about the project, publish reports on social media, and share their findings with the people who originally reported.

How is Street Central Bank buying back the debt of ordinary people? Part art installation and part charitable endeavor, the “bank” prints its own money, sells it for real tender and then uses the funds to help neighbors. The project draws inspiration from similar debt buyback efforts in the United States.

Most bus stops have an array of ads, but in Boston one sign reads “What to do if you are witnessing Islamophobic harassment.” The message is part of a part of a public awareness campaign rolled out by the city, which illustrates “how bystanders could help a victim of anti-Muslim behavior.”

The organization Natives Photograph was founded in order to create accurate, culturally sensitive images of Native Americans as well as support the careers of indigenous photographers.

Ideas42, a nonprofit behavioral design firm, has advised cities such as New York and Chicago on creative ways to use behavioral design to improve the quality of city life. From helping students sign up for financial aid to decreasing traffic after a sporting event, these creative design tweaks are inexpensive and have clear benefits. If the cities can continue to improve their design successes, other cities will soon follow their lead.