Contingency City: The Architecture of Preparedness

The studio explored the following questions: How do mobility and migration inform the way we shape our cities? How can the design of new ways of living and social infrastructure contribute to creating diverse, tolerant, safe, and inclusive neighborhoods? The studio focused on the architecture and location of a Collective Center. A Collective Center is defined—in emergency contexts—as pre-existing buildings used for temporary refuge and provision of assistance and protection of displaced persons. With new types of threats, with climate change, and displacement being a constant phenomenon—either because of internal movement or caused by migration—what does the 2020 version of the Collective Center look like? Where are they placed in our communities? How can these centers be turned into positive places with added value for a neighborhood?