Community-Centred Innovation: Co-designing for Disaster Preparedness

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BACKGROUND Australian Red Cross predicts the frequency and intensity of natural disasters to increase. Post-disaster recovery costs will quadruple from $6.3b to approx. $23b by 2050. Dramatic reduction to this cost can be achieved by effective preventative and preparedness approaches. Funded by the Bushfire CRC, Akama's research (Akama & Ivanka 2010; Akama et al, 2012) partnered with emergency management (EM) sector and regional communities to help develop ways to be prepared. It explores a co-design approach to help stakeholders find solutions for themselves (Morelli 2007), by amplifying people's creativity and to see people as experts of their own experiences and contexts (Sanders 2007). CONTRIBUTION The research innovation is methodological to enable EM practices develop a community-centred process for collective action, shifting from their top-down management practices. Since 2012 the Australian Emergency Management Institute has used Akama's methodology nationally as a training tool for staff across all relevant sectors. Research of this training and application in Ku-ring-Gai (NSW) and Cherbourg (QLD) demonstrates its adaptability for localised and multi-hazard contexts across Australia (Akama 2014). SIGNIFICANCE Awarded two 2014 Good Design Awards - 1) Best in Category: Education Service Design and 2) Patron's Prize for Australian Design (from 150 finalists). Akama's work was seen to have "... the potential to shape the future economic, social, cultural and environmental aspects of our planet". The Good Design Award is Australia's longest and most prestigious design awards. This recognition led to inclusion in Sydney Design Week 2014 Feral Experimental exhibition and a symposium with leading international and national practitioners and researchers who create new possibilities for design. Its broad exposure is reflected in media and reviews, eg Arts section of Broadsheet (Azdis 2014); The Conversation (Leimbach 2014); and 2SER radio interview (Scully 2014).