Designing Communities for Survival

Design thinking brings together what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable. It allows those who aren't trained as designers to use creative techniques, methods, and mindsets to address a vast range of SIDS challenges. These start with desirability: what makes sense to people and for people? Then there is feasibility: what is technically possible within the foreseeable future. Finally, there is viability: what is likely to become part of a sustainable community model?

Design thinking as a process begins with understanding the right questions, which is largely a matter of leadership, and taking action by embracing simple mindset shifts and tackling problems from a new direction.

Design thinking about the goals of small island developing states are to: improve human health and social development through food security and nutrition; improve water and sanitation; reduce the incidence of non-communicable disease; and promote gender equality and women's empowerment.

Partnership among SIDS, UN Agencies, development partners and others are necessary to achieve these goals.

Regarding education for design thinking, it should be aimed at managing the hundreds of environmental issues, large and small, that are impeding the development of SIDS. In this context, mind mapping is the essential pedagogical process to produce a flexible interdisciplinary, personalized knowledge framework for learning about world development. This has been the goal of educational reform in Wales for half a century. There is a link from this post to a mind map that is being created by ICOL to consolidate and continue the Welsh work. The challenge for The Green Forum is to take a lead in defining holistic models of sustainability and human well-being. The objective is to support SIDS as they combat the effects of climate change and forge new pathways between schools and the communities they serve towards sustainable and inclusive development. ICOL is creating interlocking mind maps to guide deep thinking about islands as harbingers of an international syllabus of radical hope aimed at designing islands for survival.