Finding cost-effective ways to increase access to food, water, energy, education, health care, work, and transportation

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 people in North America or Europe take for granted; in fact, nearly half do not have regular access to food, clean water, or shelter. Design for the Other 90%, a 2007 exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, part of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC, explored 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.

Designers, engineers, students and professors, architects, and social entrepreneurs from all over the globe are devising cost-effective ways to increase access to food and water, energy, education, healthcare, revenue-generating activities, and affordable transportation for those who most need them. And an increasing number of initiatives are providing solutions for underserved populations in developed countries such as the United States.

This movement has its roots in the 1960s and 1970s, when economists and designers looked to find simple, low-cost solutions to combat poverty. More recently, designers are working directly with end users of their products, emphasizing co-creation to respond to their needs. Many of these projects employ market principles for income generation as a way out of poverty. Poor rural farmers become micro-entrepreneurs, while cottage industries emerge in more urban areas. Some designs are patented to control the quality of their important breakthroughs, while others are open source in nature to allow for easier dissemination and adaptation, locally and internationally.

Encompassing a broad set of modern social and economic concerns, these design innovations often support responsible, sustainable economic policy. They help, rather than exploit, poorer economies; minimize environmental impact; increase social inclusion; improve healthcare at all levels; and advance the quality and accessibility of education. These designers’ voices are passionate, and their points of view range widely on how best to address these important issues. Each object on display tells a story, and provides a window through which we can observe this expanding field. Design for the Other 90% demonstrates how design can be a dynamic force in saving and transforming lives, at home and around the world.

While the exhibition ended on September 23, 2007, examples of the exhibits can be found on the exhibition website. Categories include shelter, health, water, education, energy, and transportation.

The exhibition was inspired by the work of Paul Polak, founder of International Development Enterprises, whose recently-released book, Out of Poverty, What Works When Traditional Approaches Fail, proposes an alternative approach to eradicating poverty while explaining why traditional poverty eradication programs have fallen short. Paul’s work and dedication to developing practical design solutions that attack poverty at its roots was the inspiration for the Design for the Other 90% exhibition. He works in co-creation with thousands of farmers in Bangladesh, India, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Nepal, Vietnam, Zambia and Zimbabwe to design and produce low-cost, income-generating products that have helped 17 million people emerge out of poverty. His pioneering alternative approach serves as a successful model of what is possible.

This story was compiled from information on the exhibit website, and the exhibit blog.