how will climate change reshape communities?
Photo by Matt Palmer on Unsplash
In 2021/22 the cohort of the Institute Without Boundaries, George Brown College, was charged with uncovering how climate change and the subsequent shift in human movement was going to reshape communities all over the globe.
I was part of a group of interdisciplinary designers that worked collaboratively to research and produce assets. My particular focus was on primary and secondary research, data synthesis, copy editing, and design and communication strategies.
MyGration.
The Project - Inspiring Change for a Better Future
Climate change has become an urgent global concern, demanding immediate attention and collaborative efforts from all sectors of society. MyGration is an innovative series, carefully crafted to educate our audience and foster awareness, empathy, and action towards the individuals, communities, and ecosystems impacted by the pressing issue of climate change. MyGration stands as an amalgamation of the words "migration" and "my," encapsulating our belief that addressing the challenges brought forth by climate change is a shared responsibility among individuals, communities, and nations. It paves the way for a journey of empathy, understanding, and proactive action towards those directly influenced by its effects, particularly those that need to relocate to survive. Our goal was to disseminate accurate and compelling information, empowering our audience to grasp the complexity of these challenges and the magnitude of their consequences. The following content displays the cumulation of a 9-month intensive design sprint. This content was created in collaboration with staff and students at the Institute Without Boundaries (IwB), George Brown College (GBC). I will be highlighting my personal contributions in this case study.
How might we encourage decision makers to adapt products, systems, and services to include strategies that are more empathetic to individuals, communities, and ecosystems that are impacted by climate change?
Objectives.
The Project
Foster awareness on climate migration
Provide actionable strategies for decision makers and service providers
Generate consumable information about a complex global problem
Limit cognitive dissonance by focusing on positive examples of climate mitigation and adaptation
Build empathy for individuals, communities, and ecosystems
Promote migration as a valuable adaptation strategy
Honour the diversity of climate migrants, their journeys, and personal agency
Design prototypical examples for inspiration and emulation
The Team
Learn to self organize and build a collaborative working group
Practice design sprint methodologies over the long and short term
Develop project management skills and vocabulary
Experiment with roles to increase learning outcomes
Produce public facing content to promote the IwB and create networking opportunities
Create a brand identity, including brand values and objectives
Refine presentation skills (internal and public facing content)
Discover. Define. Develop. Deliver.
MyGration was the result of a collaborative, 9-month design sprint. The strategic framework discussed at the later part of this case study was developed in the last 3 months of the sprint. The many months before were spent in an ambiguous research phase, where the team was busy identifying and ideating on the scope of the project, defining actors and typologies, uncovering relationships, and most importantly revealing the needs of our subjects – people, communities, and ecosystems effected by climate change.
My role in this preliminary research team stretched across many tasks and responsibilities, however I often found myself acting as project manager, facilitator in scrums, research synthesist, and copy editor. I will highlight specific contributions in the sections below.
Precendent Scan
Phase 1: The beginning of our project on climate migration started with a precedent scan to determine what products, systems, and services exist at the time of the research, what are the best practises and challenges, and where geographically do these precedents exist.
Key Takeaways: One of the biggest challenges in phase one was the sheer scope of the problem we were researching. We discussed a number of ways to approach the topic and experimented with a number of organizational strategies to extract meaning from the vast amount of information.
Contribution: My contribution in phase one was to advocate for an organizational strategy for precedents that was outside of coding them based on geographic region. This inspired the team to consider our unique lens and values, which manifested into three columns for organization - restoration, awareness, and justice. This lens also inspired the three elements in the first iteration of our logo.
Data Mapping
Phase 2: Phase 2 of our research asked us to visualize and map some of the data we had collected from phase one. Still struggling with the scope of the research, we picked six countries to provide a comparative analysis - Canada, China, India, United States, Mexico, and the Philippines.
Key Takeaways: The team discovered that finding quantitative data on climate migration proved difficult. This observation led to further research which revealed that most climate migrants do not identify as climate migrants, making it difficult to track this phenomenon. Another challenge that made this kind of data gathering difficult is the fact that their are no universal standards for this kind of reporting. Available statistics are dependant on the sovereign nation’s resources and priorities.
Contribution: My contribution in phase two was researcher. Dedicated to uncovering quantitative data despite the challenges. The lack of quantitative data inspired an survey I developed in Phase 3 - Research Plan.
Research Plan
Phase 3: Phase 3 of the project required an individual assignment. I was tasked with developing a formal research plan that could be submitted to the review board to approve primary research initiatives.
Key Takeaways: Upon advice from my faculty, I adjusted the parameters of the research to focus on subject matter experts and those working within organizations that service migrants. Working with migrants directly would require extra time and resources for approval as they could be considered a vulnerable group.
Contribution: This was an individual task. Although I completed the survey design, I did not manage to find a sample group large enough to gather insights within the tight timeframe.
SME Interviews
Phase 4: In phase 4 of our project, we began primary research with subject matter experts (SMEs). Each team member conducted 2-3 interviews resulting in 18 interviews total. Interviewers had to design an interview guide based on the SME and their experience/organization. Each interviewer was accompanied by another team member who was required to take notes. Several universal questions were designed so that responses could be coded and compared. Interview results were stored and coded using Dovetail.
Key Takeaways: The wide parameters for interviews created difficulties in analyzing and coding the results. The SMEs were from an array of backgrounds and had very different experiences with climate change, institutional policy, and the individuals, communities, and ecosystems they affected. It once again proved difficult to gather quantitative data, however the team was able to extract valuable qualitative insights from most interviews. Unfortunately access to Dovetail was not maintained after this project, so I can no longer access and share redacted results.
Contribution: I encourage team members to adopt a method to efficiently synthesize and extract insights from their interviews. My proposed method included writing a 500-word (max) summary immediately after the scheduled interview, followed by a meeting with the assigned note taker to compare observations, and composing at least three insights gleaned from the interview within 24 hours of the appointment. This method has continued into my current research practice and I continue to elaborate and refine my methodologies to make the most of user and SME interviews.
5- Day Ideation Charrette
Phase 5: Phase 5 overlapped with phase 3 and 4. The team paused research on the major project to participate in the first of two 5-day design sprints. This was the first time the team practiced rapid ideation and developed several solutions aimed at climate migrants and their communities. To focus our attention, we adjusted the research scope during the sprint to migrants coming into, and moving within Canada. Although this narrowed the view, it allowed us to synthesize information at a manageable scale.
Key Takeaways: Although this design sprint was meant to focus on solutions, much energy was spent in the define phase of the double diamond as the team iterated on scope, key terms, timelines, and journey maps. This left less time to focus on the solutions, but the definitions created in this fast-paced sprint carried through to the subsequent phases of the project.
Contribution: I worked with the team to map and define our understanding of climate migration. I personally developed two of the prototypical solutions that evolved in the sprint. I focused on adaptability, lack of permanence, transportability, the right to repair, and upcycling in my design solutions. These became values and design criteria that would make it into the final projects presented in our website and exhibition.
Interim Research Report
Phase 6: Phase 6 required the team to synthesize all of our research and assets to date into one cohesive document.
Key Takeaways: One of the main challenges of this phase was to develop an engaging narrative for our content that was not simply a chronological display of our process. The team opted to organize our research into the following sections: Assess, Acknowledge, and Evolve. In other words, we organized our findings into the first two phases of the double diamond, discover and define, while touching on phase 3, develop. In retrospect this was not the most innovative narrative, but it was the beginning of understanding the importance of positive and engaging communication as an essential part of climate activism.
Contribution: I was elected as project manager and key copy editor during this phase of our research. I oversaw delegation and decision making during the rapid creation of this report. The sheer volume of content that needed to be addressed in a very short amount of time required quick a decisive thinking on my part. I had to keep team members organized and working efficiently in small breakout teams to get all the necessary components completed on time. I listened to the needs of my team members and created a plan to best meet those needs or find compromise when compromise was needed.
Definitions.
Version 1.0
The team iterated on many different definitions of climate migration and climate-ready communities over the various phases of our research.
Key Takeaways: This was an important practice in research synthesis and defining our project scope. Without a clear definition of our research, it would not be possible to develop functional insights and defend those insights to our audience.
Contribution: Often acting as copy editor, I was at the forefront of the iterative process, however these definitions were the accumulation of team’s research and expertise.
Version 2.0
Version 2.0 included tensions, unique needs, and examples.
Insights.
Version 1.0
Version 1 of our insights lacked an action, and become an import learning outcome between the differences between an observation and an insight.
Our research insights went through many iterations before becoming the strategic framework outlined below.
Key Takeaways: It is crucial to recognize that an observation, although an essential starting point, is not inherently valuable on its own. Observations merely state what is happening or what is being observed without providing any deeper understanding or implications. On the other hand, an insight delves beneath the surface and uncovers the meaning or significance behind the observation. It involves recognizing patterns, making connections, and gaining a deeper understanding of the underlying causes or implications. The team had difficulty differentiating the two for most of the first half of the design sprint. However, by iterating on our insights in several communication and brainstorming exercises, we arrived at a set of principles (insights) that would later be mapped out to become our strategic framework.
Contribution: Often taking on the role of as a copy editor, I developed serval versions of our insights for content in our presentations and reports.
Version 2.0 - DesignTO
Version 2 of our insights was delivered in the form of an online exhibition for DesignTO, 2022. This website, titled Connect the Dots, walked viewers through our research on climate-ready communities, and was a first attempt at applying a narrative structure to our budding insights.
Contribution: I developed the narrative and copy for the website in collaboration with another team member. We created a wireframe structure that was delivered to a UI designer and then passed off to a developer.
Version 3.0
Version 3 of our insights were developed for a design brief to educate design workshop participants in our research to date so they could participate in the ideation process to develop solutions for individuals, communities, and ecosystems effected by climate change.
Contribution: I developed most of the copy for the design brief in collaboration with another team member.
Insight 1:
Climate change is not equal. There is an unfair distribution of climate impacts along human, community, and national scales.
Every human being has a right to resiliency. Addressing needs for migrants means addressing needs for all residents in a Climate Ready Community. Prescribing for one group of people does not always address the health of a community at large, including its ability to adapt to climate change.
Communities will be impacted differently. Communities at the forefront of climate change are preparing for the direct physical effects of adverse weather, while climate migrant host communities will need to prepare for the implications of population growth and increased human activity.
Resiliency comes at a high price. Wealthier nations have greater ability to fund and build resilience into their systems. Emerging economies have less resources to adapt to climate change despite greater exposure to its effects due to geographic location and dominant industries tied to the natural environment.
Action 1: Confronting climate change and the ensuing migration must start at a point of accessibility, equity, and accountability.
HMW: How might we ensure equal access opportunities for those at the forefront of climate change?
Insight 2:
Climate migration is not monolithic. There is a diversity of emotional needs, socioeconomic & environmental factors, and complex processes that make up each migrant journey.
Climate migrants experience a vast emotional landscape. Climate migrants do not experience a single emotional trauma; some will undergo extreme mental distress associated with losing a home, while others see migration as an opportunity for mobility, financial stability, or independence.
Drivers of migration are rarely isolated to one factor. Climate migration is unique because of its connection to environmental risk; however, multiple compounding socioeconomic factors, such as loss of livelihood, make it difficult to identify a sole migration driver.
Migration exists on a continuum. The physical relocation of the migration process is difficult to segment into a linear journey of ‘before, during, and after’. Migration is a continuous process that does not end at a landing point, but persists as a migrant adapts and integrates into a new community.
Action 2: Understanding that migrant emotions, drivers, and journeys are individual means respecting a migrant’s right to self-identify and assert agency in their decisions.
HMW: How might we meet the common needs of climate migrants while respecting the distinct individual?
Insight 3:
Climate-ready communities will not be homogenous. The ability for a community system to recover and regenerate in the face of climate adversity is rooted in the diversity of infrastructure, ecosystems, and people.
Natural ecosystem resilience relies on redundancy. In order to survive, species must be diverse enough to prevent the systemic failure of a biotic community. This can be a response to any sudden or gradual change, such as weather, disease, or invasive species, that allows a network of actors to sustain itself.
People are assets to resiliency. At the core of resiliency are people with a diverse array of backgrounds, capabilities, and resources that have the potential to respond and adapt to change. With the rise of migration, increasingly diverse populations must be leveraged to benefit communities on social, economical, and environmental fronts.
Community systems must function like ecosystems. The organizational infrastructures within a community must be expanded and diversified. Only by creating redundancies, can communities effectively recover, regenerate, and sustain themselves in both the short and long-term.
Action 3: Designing for a climate ready community means embedding principles of diversity into all supporting systems.
HMW: How might we expand and decentralize systems so they support community resilience?
Version 4.0
During the production phase of our project, version 4 of our insights were developed. Faced with the challenge of weaving together our diverse assets and outputs, we recognized the urgency of creating a framework that would serve as a benchmark for our research and ideas and act as a guiding resource for our audience. Our primary objective was to cultivate a cohesive vision that would allow us to navigate the complexities of our project with clarity and purpose. This framework is the culmination of countless hours of ideation, analysis, and refinement.
The Strategy.
At the heart of this project was the objective to provide decision makers such as designers, policy makers, educators, and service providers with practical guidance for developing content, products, services, and policies that prioritize equity in the face of climate change. With the understanding that climate change disproportionately affects marginalized communities, including migrants, it is crucial that decision makers consider the unique challenges and needs of these groups.
A strategic framework was developed as the cornerstone of our project’s outputs. The philosophies and principals outlined in the framework are the result of the synthesis of our primary and secondary research and numerous ideation sessions. I was the primary author of the principals and worked closely with a communications designer to organize them in a matrix that communicates an additional level of information on the axis, to include people, diversity, agency, empathy, and equity as values to embrace in decision making. At the centre of the strategy is People, for with them they bring diversity, agency, empathy, and will for equity.
Iterations.
Results.
The final iteration on the structure of our strategic framework was developed by myself and my team mate JP Carrillo. This structure added an overlay of information on the set of guiding principals discussed in the posters below. They expose themes and add values to our insights and justify the visual organization of our framework.
Impact.
Creating a Resource for Equitable Climate Change Solutions
Aimed at fostering more equitable approaches to addressing climate change and its impacts on vulnerable populations, particularly migrants, this project generated a diverse range of outputs, including a poster series, mini-publication, exhibition, website, and public lecture. These various mediums were intentionally selected to ensure that decision makers across different fields can access and engage with the resources. The strategic framework discussed above was used as a benchmark for all of our outputs, creating a cohesive visual and written narrative.
The Posters.
The poster series serves as a visual representation of key principles outlined in the project's research findings. The posters pose a question that is meant to prompt action by decision makers. The reverse side of the poster contains the content of the mini-publication (see section below posters), explaining the question in more detail and outlining a solution by various local initiatives. Beautifully designed and thoughtfully curated, the posters capture the complexity and urgency of climate change while highlighting strategies for promoting equity. Whether displayed in offices, classrooms, or community spaces, these posters offer decision makers a constant reminder of the importance of their role in this critical endeavour.
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Apply Repetition
NATURAL ECOSYSTEMS FORTIFY AGAIST CLIMATE RISK
How can we balance our needs for airable land and resources while honouring the natural biodiversity that combats destructive climate effects?
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Distribute Resources
CLIMATE SAFETY IS DETERMINED BY NEED, NOT WEALTH
How can we provide climate protection on a global scale when out economies are designed to provide for national interest?
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Address Variables
CLIMATE-RELATED UNCERTAINTIES REQUIRES EMPATHIC PLANNING
How can we create collaborative and empathetic responses to our changing climate when effects and experienced differently?
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Embrace Perspectives
BOTH TRAUMA AND OPPORTUNITY DESCRIBE CLIMATE MIGRATION
How do we acknowledge the individual emotional needs of migrants while creating extensive universal support networks?
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Recognize Identities
PEOPLE ARE ASSETS TO CLIMATE-READY COMMUNITIES
How can we shift perspectives from seeing mass migration as a liability to migration as a valuable adaptation in the face of climate change?
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Reimagine Home
CLIMATE MIGRATION COULD START IN AN INSTATE AND CONTINUE FOR GENERATIONS
How can we provide for the immediate and long term needs of climate migrants?
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Redefine Boundaries
CLIMATE MIGRANTS ARE ECONOMIC MIGRANTS
How do we bridge migrant support and services to include climate-induced migration?
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Eliminate Exposure
RESILIENCY IS REQUIRED NOW AND IN THE FUTURE
How do we balance resources so we can address existing vulnerable populations within a community as well as migrants, and have enough left over to expand for the future?
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Reduce Failures
BACKUP SYSTEMS WILL PREVENT CLIMATE CATASTROPHE
How do we build functional redundancies into our infrastructure systems to prevent failure?
The Publication.
To delve deeper into the research and its implications, the project also produced a comprehensive mini publication. This publication embodies the culmination of extensive interdisciplinary research, bringing together the insights of experts from various fields. It provides decision makers with an in-depth analysis of the challenges faced by migrants in the context of climate change, as well as concrete recommendations for developing inclusive and equitable solutions.
The team often iterated on our communication strategy. We recognized that negative content could cause apathy and cognitive dissonance in our audience. We determined from personal experience and research that the overwhelming global scale of climate change created barriers to action, seeing as cause and affect were often hemispheres apart. To combat apathy, cognitive dissonance, and barriers to advocacy, we created a mini publication that highlighted local and positive achievements towards climate action. These were inspired by local city guides, and the intent was to licence the production of these publications to communities across the globe.
Contribution: I research and developed the written content of the publication with the assistance of my teammate JP Carrillo. The visual and written content was heavily influenced by the communication design faculty that were guiding us through the process.
The Final Iteration.
The final iteration of the publication included the posters mentioned above on one side of the foldable booklet, and on the other side was local examples of climate initiatives that were benchmarked against our strategic framework.
The Exhibition
An immersive exhibition was organized to showcase the outcomes of the project. By combining visual representations and interactive displays this exhibition aimed to engage decision makers with the stories and experiences of individuals affected by climate change. It serves as a powerful tool for fostering empathy and understanding, driving decision makers to consider the far-reaching consequences of their actions.
The exhibition was developed using as much upcycled and recyclable material as possible, diverging from similar styles of exhibitions which oven are created using new materials, including wasteful vinyl cut outs. The team created a digital twin using a 3D camera that was featured on the website. This ensured that the exhibition could be accessible from any computer with internet access in the world.
The exhibition coincided with a lecture by the team that was open to the public during our launch night and also live streamed and recorded to increase access to our research and results.
Contribution: I influenced the exhibition design through the ideation and building process on top of being the lead of the strategy content. I was the primary advocate for the use of sustainable materials in construction of the exhibition and way finding materials. I wrote copy on marketing posters and invitations. I helped construct some of the display features. I fielded many questions during the Q&A portion of our public lecture that included close to 100 audience members, the majority present in-person with a smaller presence online.
Exclusions:
The final strategies were utilized as benchmark goals in three prototypical design proposals created and developed by the team. These prototypical design proposals were showcased at the exhibition and on the website as an example of how to use the framework when designing a place, product, system, service, and/or policy. This website also included an interactive map of existing precedents that were benchmarked against our strategy. The projects and website are not featured in this case study as I was not the principal designer in that team.
Contributions.
I outlined my individual contributions throughout this case study. My most common roles included Researcher, Project Manager, Facilitator, Copy Editor, and Design Strategy Lead.
Looking Back: As a design team, one of the most demanding tasks we faced was identifying our unique value in the face of such an expansive issue. Our pursuit to distinguish ourselves and carve out a niche within this complex problem proved to be an arduous endeavour. The relentless pressure of tight deadlines added an extra layer of difficulty to our research process. Each phase demanded exceptional efficiency, leaving us with limited time to complete thorough investigations. While opportunities for iteration existed in subsequent phases, the continuous looming deadlines often forced us to make swift decisions without adequate time for proper testing and review. This lack of time often left us with a lingering feeling of unease, wondering if we had truly examined all angles and possibilities.
Looking Forward: These challenges may have tested our resolve, but they also fortified our commitment to finding innovative and meaningful solutions. We understood that navigating a wicked problem required flexibility, resilience, and the willingness to embrace ambiguity. We recognized the need to continuously adapt our approach, valuing incremental progress and learning from each step forward, no matter how small. It underscored the importance of a collaborative approach, one that encouraged us to unite our diverse skill sets and perspectives to tackle this problem from various angles.
Collaborators: I had the pleasure of working with a group of talented designers over the course of this 9-month design sprint. Collaborators include but are not limited to the following:
JP Carrillo
Migs Topacio
Rebecca Arshawsky
Zan Ding
Daksh Gandhi
Shashank Banawilikar
Katie Doyle
Deliverables:
Research reports
Exhibition
Posters
Publication
Website
Prototypical products and services
Brand guidelines
Presentations (internal and external)
Skills demonstrated:
Primary and secondary research
Data analysis and synthesis
Copy editing
Facilitation
Project management
Storytelling
Spacial design
Physical and digital event organization
Communication strategy
