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The Urban Precariat, Neoliberalization, and the Soft Power of Humanitarian Design

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  • Cedric G. Johnson

Abstract

This essay examines the humanitarian design movement's efforts to address the crushing need, social precarity, and ecological frailty that define global megacities. The aims and character of the humanitarian design movement have been shaped by both the ethical demands of antiglobalization struggles and the rise of nongovernmental organizations as a principal means of social service-delivery in the Global South. The emergent humanitarian design movement offers a compelling critique of the failure of mainstream architectural and industrial design practices to address profound human suffering. Champions of humanitarian design, however, offer a technological fix (e.g., life straws, paper log houses, and hippo rollers) for problems rooted in imperial histories and neoliberal restructuring. In failing to address the dynamics of structural underdevelopment, do-good design performs the grassroots ideological work of neoliberalism by promoting market values and autoregulation. Within the humanitarian-corporate complexes, the global poor are construed as objects of elite benevolence and non-profit largesse, rather than as historical subjects possessing their own unique worldviews, interests, and notions of progress. This essay concludes by briefl y sketching an alternative approach to self-determination for the poor where technological development is grounded in egalitarian cultures of anticapitalist social movements.

Suggested Citation

  • Cedric G. Johnson, 2011. "The Urban Precariat, Neoliberalization, and the Soft Power of Humanitarian Design," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 27(3-4), pages 445-475, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jodeso:v:27:y:2011:i:3-4:p:445-475
    DOI: 10.1177/0169796X1102700409
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    1. Abouharb,M. Rodwan & Cingranelli,David, 2007. "Human Rights and Structural Adjustment," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521676717, January.
    2. Abouharb,M. Rodwan & Cingranelli,David, 2007. "Human Rights and Structural Adjustment," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521859332, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Anke Schwittay, 2019. "Designing Urban Women’s Safety: An Empirical Study of Inclusive Innovation Through a Gender Transformation Lens," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 31(4), pages 836-854, September.

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