Designing Peace

Designing Peace explores the unique role design can play in pursuing peace. Presented by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, the exhibition features design projects from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain more durable peaceful interactions—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation. The exhibition is on view from June 10, 2022 through September 4, 2023.

The exhibition opens at a critical juncture of current global dynamics, with people facing vast social, environmental and economic inequities, and dozens of continuing conflicts, from internal insurgencies, long-standing armed standoffs, territorial disputes and, most recently, the Russia-Ukraine war. This exhibition considers what might be possible if society were to design for peace and takes into account goal 16 of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, which calls directly for peace, justice and strong institutions through the elimination of hunger and poverty, improvements in health and education, the building of more resilient cities and infrastructure, the fostering of innovation, action on climate change and more.

Designing Peace features 40 design proposals, initiatives and interventions from 25 countries, represented by objects, models, full-size installations, maps, images and film. Visitors will encounter a wide range of design responses to the underlying reasons for conflict and division, such as socioeconomic inequality, resource competition and environmental degradation—and will be encouraged to consider their own agency in designing peace through interactive installations, quiet moments of reflection and opportunities for practical action.

Organized by Cynthia E. Smith, curator of socially responsible design, with Caroline O’Connell, curatorial assistant, Designing Peace continues Cooper Hewitt’s humanitarian design exhibition series exploring how design can address some of the world’s most critical issues.

The exhibition is organized in five sections, each asking a fundamental question about what it means to design for peace:

How can design support safe, healthy, respectful environments?
A life-affirming, long-term approach to peace and security is one less concerned with militarization and more with safety, well-being and dignity for all. Design can support a culture that values and protects people, provides for fundamental needs, promotes healthy environments and respects diverse identities.

How can design address the root causes of conflict?
Causes for armed conflict are complex, driven by social divisions, economic disparities and environmental and political factors. All are made more acute by a warming planet and a global pandemic. Design can play a significant role in building resilience, expanding access and challenging repressive systems to protect and improve lives globally.

How can design engage creative confrontation?
Not all conflict is damaging. Conflict can generate necessary change and improvements, especially when confronting unfair structures and systems. Creative confrontation can be transformative, making room for debate that allows for different voices and viewpoints. Provocative collaboration by designers, artists and activists has brought new attention to longstanding injustices.

How can design embrace truth and dignity in a search for peace and justice?
Realizing justice can mean engaging all of society in a dialogue about the past and raising voices historically excluded. Design can play a vital function in elevating universal human values by creating spaces for sharing hidden histories and innovative ways to disseminate new knowledge.

How can design help transitions from instability to peace?
Establishing a peace that is transformative, long-term and beneficial to all segments of society requires a comprehensive approach to sustainable development, peacebuilding and human rights. Collaborative design can play a key role by bringing together different disciplines, sectors and stakeholders, especially women, youth and those on the margins, to build durable peace.

The exhibition will be accompanied by the publication, Designing Peace: Building a Better Future Now, which offers perspectives on peace from activists, scholars, architects and policymakers and graphic, game and landscape designers. Through essays, interviews, critical maps, project profiles, data visualizations and art, the publication conveys the momentum that design can generate in effecting a peace-filled future.