Cynthia E. Smith

Half the world's population now resides in cities, which are expanding at an unprecedented rate. Close to one billion people live in crowded, unhealthy, informal settlements--commonly referred to as slums--many of which lack security of land tenure, adequate housing, sanitation, clean water and electricity. Experts estimate that by 2030, more than two billion people will be living in these slums. In 2007, Design for the Other 90% explored design that helps provide better access to food, water, shelter, health, education and energy to those who most need them. Design with the Other 90%: Cities is the second installment in Cooper-Hewitt's ongoing and acclaimed exhibition and book series. It looks at some of the myriad challenges created by accelerated urban growth and presents design solutions that address the consequences. Exploring the multidisciplinary, overlapping relationships between urban planning and design, education, social entrepreneurship, climate change, sanitation and water, migration, public health and affordable housing in these communities, Design with the Other 90%: Cities looks at the efforts of international and locally based organizations, designers and communities collaborating with settlement residents to give them a chance at a more prosperous life.

Why design now? As issues of ecology and sustainable living continue to gain in urgency and topicality, design has come to the forefront of the arts as the discipline best equipped to meet today's challenges. Designers around the world are rising to this clarion call by creating products, buildings, landscapes, messages and more that address important social and ecological problems. Why Design Now? National Design Triennial accompanies the fourth installation in Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum's acclaimed National Design Triennial exhibition series. Designed by Michael Bierut, a partner in the award-winning design firm Pentagram, Why Design Now? is the first Triennial book to be truly international in reach, with 134 designers and projects in more than 44 countries. With eight essays by four Cooper-Hewitt curators, project profiles and more than 350 color illustrations, many of which have never been published before, Why Design Now? offers a glimpse into contemporary innovation, and an up-to-the-minute survey of what progressive designers, engineers, entrepreneurs and citizens are doing in diverse fields and at different scales. Many of the featured works have influenced other designers by proposing new methodologies or by pioneering new techniques; also included are practical solutions already being implemented as well as experimental ideas designed to inspire further research. Each of the selected works--from a soil-powered table lamp to a post-petroleum urban utopia--celebrates the transformative power of design.

Of the world's total population of 6.5 billion, nearly 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 more than 30 projects which reflect the growing movement among designers, engineers, students and professors, architects, and social entrepreneurs to design low-cost solutions for this other 90%. Through partnerships both local and global, individuals and organizations around the United States and throughout the world are inventing unique ways to provide better access to food, water, shelter, health, education and energy to those who most need them. Published in conjunction with a major exhibition at the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Design for the Other 90% contains more than a dozen essays by leading experts in the field, accompanied by 200 full-color illustrations, to highlight a wide variety of design innovations that address the basic challenges of survival and progress faced by the world's poor and marginalized.