3.5 Square Meters: Constructive Responses to Natural Disasters

Natural disasters and their consequences dominate the news on an almost daily basis. Yet government aid programs have often proven slow to respond. 3.5 Square Meters explores how individuals and communities can overcome such extreme situations without having to depend on unreliable bureaucratic measures.

Using a bottom-up approach, this volume presents a selection of projects that imagine how both cutting-edge technology and locally available materials and resources can be used to save lives in a natural disaster. Contributors to this volume—including engineers, architects, designers, computer scientists, and social activists—lay out how knowledge-sharing, story-telling, and social media can provide vital resources and communication during times of crisis. The varied and innovative projects in this volume offer hope and DIY guidance for disaster relief and prevention in the digital age.

Maya Vinitsky is associate curator for design and architecture at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.