The Chicago Clean Air Design Challenge is a regional design contest to address issues of air quality in two of Chicago's most affected neighborhoods- Pilsen and Little Village. Residents of Pilsen and Little Village live below two coal powered plants that regularly emit lead and other toxins into the air. High rates of asthma and other air-quality illnesses are pressing concerns for the residents of these neighborhoods and for much of Chicago. This is the critical environmental concern of the moment in your city and you are a designer.
What will you do about it?
They want to find out what designers in industrial design, graphic design, interior architecture, architecture, and public space design will envision to address issues of respiratory health, raising awareness, and improving overall quality of life for the people who live (and breathe) in neighborhoods nestled amongst the coal burning power plants.
They encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration and submissions can come from a class, a group, a partnership, or an individual.
Goals of the contest:
• Use design to empower individuals through information, tools, spaces, etc to help them protect themselves while Fisk and Crawford continue to operate and until they are forced to shut down.
• Use design to raise awareness and mobilize individuals to take action.
• Use design to better educate people in the Pilsen and Little Village communities about the health effects of airborne contaminants caused by the coal plants.
• Use the contest and the exhibition/awards ceremony as a media event to raise awareness throughout Chicago about the negative impacts of the coal plants in Pilsen and Little Village.
The Air We Breathe will culminate in an exhibition of outstanding submissions and awards ceremony at a gallery in Pilsen.
More details at DesignMakesChange.com
Deadline: April 18 2011
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