Professor Emeritus of Development Studies and former IMI Director Robin Cohen will sit on a jury comprising leading design figures to help select the winner of a global design challenge to help cities and refugees adapt to each other.
What Design Can Do (WDCD), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the IKEA Foundation have joined forces to launch the What Design Can Do Refugee Challenge, which tasks designers to 'come up with game-changing ideas for accommodating, connecting, integrating and helping the personal development of refugees'.
The challenge, which closes on 20 May, has a particular focus on refugees in urban areas, where nearly 60% of the world's refugees live.
In an interview with WDCD, Robin Cohen said he would 'like to see something that will work at "multi-scalar" levels, recognizing that issues will change as local, national, regional and global levels change'. He also observed how 'the multiplier effects of many small acts of kindness can do much to reduce cultural tensions'.