The architectural façade has been a site of intensive experimentation and innovation throughout the 20th century, something that continues to this day, resulting in a vast range of architectural imagery, often incohesive in the post-modern reality. This research explores contemporary façade types and classifies the character of exterior building surfaces. In this paper, we aim to explore how the façade has been designed and has affected its surroundings. How and why has the façade evolved in the ways that it has? Is it the material innovation, structural novelty, the new design techniques or new aesthetics? We adopt a method of analytical induction to extract the most prevalent façade themes from relevant contemporary literature, characterize their meanings and categorize them in order to better explain the many sides of the façade. We set out to define the principles of façade design to then develop a general categorization, which can be applied to most building façades in recent history.

This paper presents a research study of expected precipitation extremes across the Gandaki Province, Nepal. The study used five indices to assess extreme precipitation under climate change. Precipitation output of two Global Climate Models (GCMs) of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase Six (CMIP6) were used to characterize the future precipitation extremes during the rainfall season from June to September (JJAS) and overall days of the year. To characterize extreme precipitation events, we used daily precipitation under the SSP2–4.5 and SSP5–8.5 scenarios from the Beijing Climate Center and China Meteorological Administration, China; and Meteorological Research Institute (MRI), Japan. Considering large uncertainties with GCM outputs and different downscaling (including bias correction) methods, direct use of GCM outputs were made to find change in precipitation pattern for future climate. For 5-, 10-, 20-, 50-, and 100-year return periods, observed and projected 24 h and 72 h annual maximum time series were used to calculate the return level. The result showed an increase in simple daily intensity index (SDII) in the near future (2021–2040) and far future (2081–2100), with respect to the base-year (1995–2014). Similarly, heavy precipitation days (R50 mm), very heavy precipitation days (R100 mm), annual daily maximum precipitation (RX1day), and annual three-day maximum precipitation (RX3day) indices demonstrated an increase in extreme precipitation toward the end of the 21st century. A comparison of R50 mm and R100 mm values showed an extensive (22.6% and 63.8%) increase in extreme precipitation days in the near future and far future. Excessive precipitation was forecasted over Kaski, Nawalparasi East, Syangja, and the western half of the Tanahun region. The expected increase in extreme precipitation may pose a severe threat to the long-term viability of social infrastructure, as well as environmental health. The findings of these studies will provide an opportunity to better understand the origins of severe events and the ability of CMIP6 model outputs to estimate anticipated changes. More research into the underlying physical factors that modulate the occurrence of extreme incidences expected for relevant policies is suggested.

This editorial note provides an extended summary and transversal analysis of ten articles gathered for the 2022 Special Issue on participation in contemporary architecture. The call for contribution circulated in June 2021 attracted papers from Central Europe (n = 8) and North America (n = 2), and presents an overview of ongoing practices and research in participatory architecture in these areas. The Special Issue aimed to study the connections between disciplines and gathered nine empirical cases and one literature review. In this editorial note, we first analyze these contributions to better understand the nature of architecture in participating in the profiles of end-users and project teams, and the scale of the projects. Secondly, we highlight four lessons taken from these practices and studies: we emphasize how participation in architecture (1) emerges and operates in interstitial spaces; (2) often deployed for and with “vulnerable” end-user groups, this “vulnerability” provides power and originality to processes and outcomes; (3) inspirational principles, guides, and frameworks are produced as outcomes; and finally, (4) social architectures are deployed beyond tangible concepts through a multilevel relationship to pedagogy. Finally, we observe that reflections on gender, politics, decoloniality, and disciplinary transfers remain underexplored and need to be explicitly studied and integrated.

Alternative building materials have the potential to reduce environmental pressure from buildings, though the use of these materials should be guided by an understanding of the embodied environmental impacts. Extensive research on embodied greenhouse gas emissions from buildings has been conducted, but other impacts are less frequently reported. Furthermore, uncertainty is rarely reported in building LCA studies. This paper provides a piece for filling those gaps by comprehensively reporting the embodied environmental impacts of a fiberglass house within the LCA framework, modeled in the OpenLCA software using the Ecoinvent 3.7.1 inventory database. The ReCiPe 2016 impact assessment method is used to report a wide range of environmental impacts. The global warming potential is calculated to be 311 kgCO2 eq/m2. Additionally, a hotspot analysis is included to identify areas that should be the focus for improvement, as well as an uncertainty analysis based on Monte Carlo. The embodied emissions are given context by a scenario analysis over a 50-year use phase in three different grid conditions and with two different energy efficiency levels. Based on the results of this study, it is determined that fiberglass does not provide a viable alternative to conventional building materials if the purpose is to reduce embodied emissions from buildings.

The geometric determination of Gothic architecture together with contemporary design methods is an important question in the history of arts. The Gothic style is unique in the history of European architecture: it is the only period when Antique models were barely used. The design methods were different than those used in Classical (and so Renaissance, Baroque, and Neo-Classicist) architecture: the design involved subsequent geometrical steps. These steps, and thus the procedure are at least as important as the resulting geometry itself. Using recent technology (laser scanning, algorithmic modelling), the procedure can be modelled. In this new approach for the research of Gothic architecture, not only the geometries themselves are the subject of examination but also the underlying generative processes. Contemporary written sources on design rules together with the fabric of the buildings themselves serve as source for this kind of research. In this case study, the late Gothic Avas church in Miskolc, Hungary served as a base for testing the extent of the use of surviving rules; generative, procedural algorithms were created based on the surviving parts and fragments to illustrate the demolished parts. Finally, a configurational analysis was conducted to compare the late medieval and early modern approach to design.

In recent decades, the Italian building trade has recorded an increasing interest in the renovation and improvement of both listed and unlisted existing buildings by the Ministry of Culture, growing the debate on adapting historical buildings to current sustainability needs. The Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) observed the increase in family commuting and the attractiveness of marginal territories. Despite the scarcity of services, one-fifth of Italian small municipalities are attractive according to some indicators, primarily the demographic growth in the last three years. The COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to the re-evaluation of inland areas. Remote working and the new need for open spaces could increase the return to small villages and be further boosted by the fiscal incentives. This paper considers the evolution of last year’s real estate market, evaluating whether the regulatory tools for energy retrofit and tax relief meet the trade crisis with a possible benefit of preserving historical buildings. This research cannot ignore the European background; therefore, this paper offers an overview of EU regulatory strategies for energy efficiency recently issued to increase sustainability, focusing on tax credits for improving existing buildings. In conclusion, some considerations are proposed for future in-depth research.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the death of George Floyd shed new light on longstanding disparities that exist in low-income communities of color and impact their overall well-being. Architectural educators and practitioners across the United States are engaging in public discourse to debate the role that architecture should play in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in education and the architectural profession. This trend has motivated us to ask: How can architecture be made more relevant to underserved communities? This article investigated that question via the construct of mapping. Mapping is a mechanism for reflection, rediscovery, and reexamination of the familiar and self-discovery of the less familiar. To further explore how mapping can help make architecture more relevant to disadvantaged populations, we used a mobile mapping station (MMS)—a practical, hands-on, community-based project conducted in Detroit. This article focused on MMSs, exploring how, when coupled with social justice values and equitable development principles, architecture can be made more accessible to broader populations.

The urban renewal of deteriorated areas is a challenge for many city decision-makers. In this study, we aimed to understand the role and impact of the Israeli national outline plan, TAMA38, on urban renewal areas by examining three urban renewal strategies. This plan was developed to strengthen individual buildings against earthquakes, but it also serves as a catalyst for the renewal of deteriorated individual residential buildings in old neighborhoods, particularly in high-demand districts. TAMA38 focuses on the renovation of individual buildings, primarily residential, but neglects the comprehensive vision of the public and private needs of the neighborhood/site complex, of which the individual building is only one component. To understand which planning strategy will achieve better spatial results under TAMA38, a broader examination is required. The objective of this study was to assess the performance of three urban sites developed under the TAMA38 program in the city of Haifa using three main strategies: (1) one comprehensive plan led by one developer with a change in building locations (2) one comprehensive plan but led by diverse developers, while building locations remain unchanged and (3) individual building renewals with no comprehensive plan. The methodology for this analysis was based on the evaluation of various quantitative and quality parameters that influence the performance of the built environment. The results of the research emphasize the need to choose an urban renewal strategy tailored to a specific location, as well as the need for the authority to take responsibility for planning open public spaces throughout the process.

This paper studies the annual rankings of professional architectural degree programs by DesignIntelligence (DI). It uses a literature review and the statistical analysis of DI rankings and program-specific data to explore the limitations of the ranking system and its impacts on programs and public opinion. According to the findings of the study, the limitations of this system are related to the data it uses, the methods it uses to collect the data, and the way it uses the data for ranking purposes. Still, the ranking system can force architectural programs into a costly campaign for better ranks. It can also mislead prospective students in choosing programs that may not match their expectations. Additionally, it does not provide a reliable assessment of the capacity of a program to serve the profession and produce public good. It is suggested that a more objective, reliable, and relevant ranking system is needed for professional architecture degree programs. For this, the ranking system should emphasize criteria and methods different from the current DI system of rankings and should allow users to personalize rankings based on their perspectives, needs, and priorities.

Tsunamis pose significant challenges for disaster reduction efforts due to the multi-hazard, cascading nature of these events, including a range of different potential triggering and consequential hazards. Although infrequent, they have the potential to cause devastating human and economic losses. Effective urban planning has been recognised as an important strategy for reducing disaster risk in cities. However, there have been limited studies on urban planning for tsunami-prone areas, and there have been wide ranging strategies adopted globally. This is an international study aimed at exploring the status of urban planning in tsunami areas and better understanding potential urban planning strategies to reduce disaster risk in coastal regions. Drawing upon the work of an international collaborative research team, in this article, we present the findings of a systematic review of the urban planning literature. Using the PRISMA guidelines, 56 papers were selected, and three guiding questions informed the review. Further empirical investigations were carried out in Sri Lanka by a local research team, including twelve semi-structured interviews with representatives from agencies in urban planning, construction, and disaster management, and a focus group representing town and country planning, architecture, structural engineering, disaster management, landscape and geospatial planning, building services, green buildings and infrastructure and environmental management fields. The combined analysis reveals insights into the characteristics of the literature, as well as the nature of existing strategies for urban planning in tsunami-prone areas, grouped into six broad themes: community participation, spatial planning, soft and hard engineering;,evacuation planning, and resilience thinking. The findings also reveal limitations in existing strategies, including their failure to address multi-hazard threats and systemic risk, as well as inadequate community participation, and limited access to timely disaster risk information. The findings are used to inform an initial model of urban planning strategies in tsunami-prone areas that can be used before a hazard event occurs, during and in the immediate response to a hazard event, and during recovery and reconstruction following a disaster.

Housing reconstruction is considered the backbone of disaster recovery. The increasing losses in housing due to disasters challenge conventional top-down schemes and call for people-centred approaches to acknowledge their agency and self-recovery resources. This paper examines the pathways for housing self-recovery through resident-controlled incremental housing development. This paper focuses on the Villa Verde settlement built in the Chilean city of Constitución, which was severely impacted by the 2010 Chile Earthquake. Villa Verde, designed by the Chilean architecture studio Elemental, is one of the most notable incremental housing projects worldwide that encourage residents to extend their houses within a provided structural framework. This research aims to provide clarity in the much-needed understanding of disaster-affected people’s agency to self-recover, noted by researchers as one of the crucial elements for improving the humanitarian response in the aftermath of disasters. Through capturing the evolution of incremental housing construction, this paper presents multiple complexities resulting from the variety of households’ characteristics and needs in their process of post-disaster housing self-recovery. The resident-controlled process studied evidence that the people’s capacities and dedication to self-recover challenged the established housing framework with extensions beyond the designers’ parameters requiring further evaluation of the long-term implications of self-help constructions.

Building knowledge on participation successes and failures is essential to enhance the overall quality and accountability of participatory processes. This paper relates to participatory assessment conducted in four cities, where 12 participatory workshops were organized, bringing together more than 230 participants. On-the-spot feedback was collected from the participants and generated 203 logbook entries, which helped define participant-related variables. Those variables in turn unfolded unique participatory trajectories for each participant. Four retrospective focus groups were then organized to bring qualitative, in-depth understanding to the participants’ expectations and (dis)satisfactions all along the participatory processes. On the basis of these empirical data, we developed a contextual, analytical tool to review participation in a longitudinal way. This qualitative tool articulates several intertwined influences: the level of satisfaction, the level of expectations and participatory background from the participants’ perspectives, as well as the participatory maturity from the organizing agency’s perspective. We argue that evaluating participation in the long term and in a transversal way, focusing on agencies’ and participants’ trajectories rather than uniquely on on-the-spot experiences, provides additional meaning to criteria applied to participation evaluation and teaches us more about participation quality and efficiency than repeated assessments of disconnected and isolated initiatives.

The concept of inclusion in design is increasingly well known and often recognizes value in a greater diversity of people when creating new buildings, spaces, products, and services. Still, uptake is said to be limited in practice. The theoretical landscape provides several definitions and concerns, but they are often paradoxical. Rather than disentangle theory, this research turns to practitioners who design inclusively. This research explores the ways people advocate for inclusion in design projects, prevailing aspects in the negotiations within multi-stakeholder projects, the motivations and mindsets that drive these aspects, and the opportunities they create for the improved uptake of inclusion. Through discussions (semi-structured interviews) with six individuals from design and architecture, aspects of inclusion from practice emerged. The data were clustered thematically and organized into three parts: general project development, working with others as a team, and designing inclusively. These explorations highlight the value of including a more diverse group of individuals in the negotiations of a design project, the value of bespoke designs, the ever-evolving nature of inclusion, the different ways to present a valuable business case, and the influence of team dynamics. Conflicting perspectives on effective uptake prevail in both practice and theory. Future research will inquire on the most prevalent and valuable aspects of inclusion and their placement within current development processes.

In this paper, we focus on interdisciplinary collaboration using intuitive virtual reality interfaces and building information models in the architecture, engineering, and construction industries. These systems have been a topic of research and development for the past ten years; however, there is still no widely open standard format, related software platform, or guidelines that are sufficiently mature; the complexity of such systems is very high. We review existing state-of-the-art interdisciplinary collaborative virtual reality systems, proposing solutions and standards. Thirteen state-of-the-art systems are reviewed and compared to illustrate emerging trends and insufficiencies. It is found that these systems differ significantly with respect to drawing capabilities, photorealism, construction simulation, and interdisciplinary communication. We discover trends in user interfaces that could be evolved to better standards, and provide future guidelines to developers. Combining the best aspects of existing systems, we provide a blueprint for an ideal system that combines the most advanced features for collaborative design.

The COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted many industries on a global scale. Expectedly, the construction industry was not left out as non-essential construction was halted, strict health and safety protocols were introduced, and businesses were disrupted. New York City was the epicenter of the pandemic at its onset in the United States, and the pandemic had different impacts on workers based on their work location and role. This study utilized a survey including twenty-five statements to explore the initial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the construction industry in New York State, analyzing its effects on sixty-one construction industry professionals, their projects, and firms, also considering their work location and role in the construction process. The most severe impacts were on construction schedules and in-person meetings. Those who worked in New York City had more difficulty complying with the increased health and safety regulations than those who worked outside the city. Those categorized as builders indicated significantly more contract performance issues. Furthermore, a set of recommendations were highlighted to strengthen the industry’s response to future similar disruptions. This study is significant in helping researchers and businesses build more resilient operations to address current and future pandemic-related challenges facing the construction industry.

From the perspective of urban planning, the history of the Town Camps of Mparntwe (Alice Springs) has made them a unique form of urban development within Australia; they embody at once a First Nation form of urbanism and Country, colonial policies of inequity and dispossession, and a disparate public and community infrastructure that reflects the inadequate and ever-changing funding landscape it has been open to. While these issues continue, this paper discusses the resilience of these communities through the Local Decision Making agreement, signed in 2019 between the Northern Territory Government and Tangentyere Council. One thing that has been critical to translating and communicating local decisions for government funding has been the establishment of an inclusive and robust process of participatory mapping—Mapping Local Decisions—where both the deficiencies and potential of community infrastructure within each Town Camp is being identified. As local community knowledge is embedded within these practices, so too are issues of health, accessibility, safety and a changing climate similarly embedded within the architectural and infrastructure projects developed for government funding. Being conceived and supported by local communities, projects are finding better ways to secure this funding, building on a resilience these communities have for the places they live.

This paper draws from a research project that explored the lived reality of communities in Vanuatu recovering from major disasters to understand the impacts of shelter interventions by humanitarian organizations. It focuses on “shelter self-recovery”, anapproach followed by organizations after recent disasters. A global overview of self-recovery highlights the potential of this approach to support recovery pathways and indicates the reliance on local context. The overview shows the need for more evidence on the impact of self-recovery programs. In Vanuatu, the study was undertaken in three island sites—Tanna, Maewo and Pentecost—affected by different disasters, particularly cyclones. It examined three main issues: (a) understanding and interpretation of self-recovery; (b) how the approach has evolved over time; and (c) what is being done by communities to support self-recovery to reduce future disaster risk. Key findings from the field indicated that devastation by disasters such as cyclones can cause a serious scarcity of natural building materials, which impedes the self-recovery process. The other significant issue is that of traditional versus modern building materials, where many people aspire for modern houses. However, poorly constructed modern houses pose a risk in disasters, and there are examples of shelters made of traditional materials that provide safety. Drawing from the field investigations, a set of recommendations were developed for more effective shelter self-recovery by humanitarian agencies in partnership with communities and other stakeholders. These recommendations place importance on contextual factors, community consultation and engagement, and addressing the supply of natural building materials.

Buildings are an important part of worldwide efforts to reduce energy consumption and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. Despite recent technological developments in the area of energy consumption reduction, energy use is on the rise, highlighting the significance of considering occupant behavior with regard to controlling energy consumption and supporting climate resilience. Energy performance of residential buildings is a function of various aspects such as properties of the building envelope, climatic location characteristics, HVAC system, and, more importantly, occupant behavior and activities towards energy utilization. This study carries out a comprehensive review of the impact of occupant behavior on reducing the energy performance gap in residential buildings since residential buildings account for 70% of building floor area around the globe. Findings have revealed that a dearth of literature on occupants’ behavior scholarship leads to inaccurate simplifications in building modeling and design. Thus, there is a strong need to obtain appropriate occupant behavioral data to develop strategies to close the energy performance gap as much as possible to achieve better energy efficiency in residential buildings to contribute to resilience and sustainability. Findings have also revealed a lack of objective and subjective data on occupants’ behavior towards energy efficiency in residential buildings. In response to these gaps, the current paper has proposed a conceptual framework for occupant behavior toward a modification of thermal comfort to reduce energy use. Based on the findings of this paper, understanding the variety of factors influencing occupants’ behavior should be considered a major influential factor in the design and retrofit of residential buildings with a view toward long-term resilience and sustainability.

The implementation of building information modeling (BIM) methodology in the construction industry has wide applicability with recognized benefits when designing, constructing, and operating buildings. To stay competitive in business, companies are urged to recruit professionals that offer brand-new knowledge and skillsets. To meet this demand, BIM training regarding the concept, range of applications, and tools available is required within the construction profession. A recent short course organized by the University of Lisbon, Portugal, actualized with the most relevant achievements in Master’s degree research, was offered to professionals in the industry, namely, architects and civil engineers coming from diverse engineering areas such as the environment, construction, maintenance, contracting and surveyors, and from patrimonial enterprises and public organizations, as well as city councils. The proposed action covers the areas of construction (conflict analysis, planning, and material quantity), structures (interoperability, analyses, and the transfer of information between software types), and the most recent heritage building information modeling (HBIM) perspectives. The methodology used was based on the presentation of case studies related to situations of conflict between disciplines, interoperability problems, and the structural rehabilitation of old buildings. The difficulties found in the course are mainly due to the heterogeneity of the participating population, who have different interests and specific perspectives. The participants followed the course with great interest and satisfaction, formulating several questions directed at the particular field of expertise of each professional. In general, the participants indicated a positive score, and changes in response to negative feedback will be adopted in future courses. The course aims to contribute to the dissemination of the potential of BIM in the design, construction, and refurbishment of historical buildings.

Has the increase in social life and conviviality commonly imagined by the designers and decision-makers taken place? There are few systematic post-project evaluations of the methods and tools used to answer this question. Therefore, this article wishes to draw lessons from a housing experiment from the end of the 1970s, the Grand’Goule residence in Poitiers, the objective of which was to create a dense social life through design and means of participation. Some devices consisted in the creation of Surfaces d’Activités Partagées (SAPs, shared activities surfaces), which are common spaces where residents can intervene in both the interior design and the function of space itself. In this study, we analyze the Grand’Goule project, which has been displayed as a participative experiment, with the objective of creating a dense social life through original architectural and social devices. We use different sources (interviews of the inhabitants, project owners, and architects, alongside press articles and the architects’ archives) to dissect the practices in order to lead a retrospective analysis of the participative process, its successes and failures. We show that, as a very complex and fragile process, enabling the active participation of people in the design and use of a large-scale architectural project is far from obvious and suffers from several kinds of difficulties. We highlight the gap between initial intentions, final realizations and actual uses in the Grand’Goule project, and how it can inform every participative architectural project.

This paper questions the degree of inclusivity and equity in the treatment of voices at play in the architectural design process and advocates for an approach whereby architecture can be realized as a harmonious and polyphonic composition of multiple voices and values. Based on a dialogic ontology, the paper examines how a designer’s sense of self can contribute to their method of practice and proposes a new methodology (Narrative-based Dialogic Design-NDD) that can allow a decentralization of the sense of self to facilitate the uptake of narrative positions of others.

Exposure to outside views creates opportunities to distract and experience feelings of relaxation. To explore the relationship between the environmental qualities of the views with such psychological states, 89 participants from seven Mexican states evaluated the views they contemplated during the confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Items on fascination, cognitive well-being, and how relaxing and helpful the views were to withstand the confinement were answered. Participants took photographs of the views, which were evaluated according to 41 environmental dimensions, considering the built elements, vegetation, and visibility. Based on these dimensions, a classification of the views into categories was realized with multidimensional scaling. The five categories obtained were (a) immersive views of extensive landscapes with vegetation, (b) non-immersive views of landscapes with vegetation, (c) views of courtyards with vegetation, (d) views of commonplace scenes, and (e) views of mostly built elements. The categories generating the highest and lowest relaxation, fascination, and cognitive well-being were identified. The views of extensive landscapes with vegetation and the views of courtyards were the categories presenting the most favorable psychological effects. Furthermore, a partial correlation network found direct relations between the environmental and psychological dimensions. Fascination relates to the observation of distant elements, mountains, and trees. Meanwhile, relaxation correlates with the presence of plants and anticorrelates with car visibility, the quantity of the windows of the visible buildings, and the variety of built elements. Relaxation was the psychological state with the highest direct relation with the environmental dimensions. Meanwhile, the perceived immersion (the feeling of being outdoors), the quantity of plants, and the attractiveness of the built elements were the environmental aspects most directly related to the psychological dimensions. The multiplicity of environmental and architectural qualities considered allowed specific implications for architecture to be obtained. An integrated configuration of the natural and the built elements, and a limited quantity and variation of the built elements were qualities that generated positive outcomes in the observers of the views.

The Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society, better known as the Faro Convention, emphasizes the relevance of participation in cultural heritage and its clear potential benefits. Despite the growing literature on participation in cultural heritage, little research through systematic reviews has been conducted in this field. This paper explores definitions of participation, its actors, and its challenges with a focus on cultural heritage, and it aims to fill this gap by providing a systematic literature review based on PRISMA 2020 guidelines and Okoli guidelines. The results reflect on the definition of participation, the different actors involved, and the challenges facing participation in cultural heritage, based on the interactions of actors. Results further indicate that participation in cultural heritage specifically is in an early stage of adoption and that considerable effort is needed in assessing the adequate methodologies to face the challenges.

This paper examines how the discourses and practices of design can be applied to both mitigate the damaging impacts of (un-)natural disasters and guide resilient post-disaster recovery. Integrated with systems analysis, design can provide both an innovative window for understanding the complexities of disaster-risk reduction and recovery, as well as a conceptual bridge to new ways of building socio-economic and physical resilience in disaster-affected communities. However, the skills of key systems and design thinkers, such as architects, urban planners, and landscape architects, are seldom employed, despite their demonstrated capacity to work with disaster-prone or -impacted communities to develop integrated spatial responses to guide both disaster-risk reduction and long-term rebuilding after a disaster. Indeed, there has been little focused investigation of the potential contributions of design per se in developing strategies for disaster-risk reduction and recovery. Similarly, there has been little attention in design education to complementing the creative problem-solving skills of the designer with the contextual and systemic understandings of disaster management and disaster-resilient design. This paper addresses these omissions in both disaster management and design education though a review of research on design contributions to disaster issues and provides a case study of the curriculum and pedagogical approaches appropriate to build capacity for enhancing this contribution.