Design for Emergencies: An Educational Exhibition as a Medium for Design Reflection

Emergencies—whether climatic, geological, or humanitarian—have increasingly become critical contexts for design action, requiring new interdisciplinary approaches and reflective practices. This paper presents an educational exhibition as an intermediate output of the research project “Design and Emergency. Interdisciplinary design methods for prevention, management, and reconstruction in emergency situations”, funded by Iuav University of Venice (Italy). The project aims to explore the role of design in emergencies and to structure an interdisciplinary group capable of building a shared and effective body of knowledge to address such crises. Curated and organized by two design students, the exhibition showcases projects developed within product, interior and communication design courses, at both bachelor's and master's levels, focused on emergency challenges. Positioned at the intersection of research and education, the exhibition functions not only as a display of student work but also as a medium for critical reflection. It seeks to activate dialogue within the academic community around the social and scientific relevance of emergencies as design domains, and to question how design education can contribute to shaping professionals who are capable of engaging with complex, urgent global challenges. The paper reflects on educational insights and the potential of exhibitions as tools for disseminating knowledge and fostering a reflective design culture attuned to contemporary emergencies.