Think Bigg

I spent last weekend in New York City, and the day after I arrived I rushed over to the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum on the Upper East Side to check out their new exhibit called Design for the Other 90%.

According to the museum website:

Of the world’s total population of 6.5 billion, 5.8 billion people, or 90%, have little or no access to most of the products and services many of us take for granted; in fact, nearly half do not have regular access to food, clean water, or shelter. Design for the Other 90% explores a growing movement among designers to design low-cost solutions for this “other 90%.” Through partnerships both local and global, individuals and organizations are finding unique ways to address the basic challenges of survival and progress faced by the world’s poor and marginalized.

The exhibit is located in the garden court of what is the old Carnegie mansion on Museum Mile and covers technology innovations in shelter, health, water, education, energy and transport.

This wheel, for example, is meant to improve upon water distribution methods in areas of the world where many women still carry water back to their villages on their heads.

My only complaint was that the relative cost of production for each of the inventions wasn’t mentioned — a fairly important question when one is evaluating technology for developing world economies. Otherwise, I thought it was an encouraging attempt to raise awareness about the problems — and the potential solutions — facing most of the rest of the world.

For a copy of the coffee table book showcasing all of the exhibits, check out the Cooper-Hewitt online shop.

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