Natural Disaster Readiness and Response: Bringing Designers, Design Thinking, and Design Innovation into the Agenda

In 2023, earthquakes struck Turkey, Syria, and Morocco, while torrential rain and floods hit Libya. When faced with images and eyewitness accounts of disasters, conscientious designers ask: how can design help in natural disaster readiness and response? Design and disaster management are rarely overlapping disciplines, resulting in little critical analysis on the role of design and designers in the context of disasters. This paper offers an overview of design for disaster. It acts as a guide and call for action, informing policymakers, managers, and other stakeholders on the contribution design can make to this challenging area. A case study approach is taken for exemplification and argumentation. Turkey serves as a poignant geographical example: rich in design capability, yet facing high risks from natural disasters. Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara forms the institutional case, notable as one of Turkey’s most research-intensive universities—and one that also possesses design for disaster experience. The major contribution of the paper is a preliminary framework on design for disaster readiness and response, directed at practical efforts and policymaking in what is an emerging inter- and trans-disciplinary field. Designers, design thinking, and design innovation can all take a role.