Cristina
Fawaz López

In moments of instability, what fails are not just systems and infrastructure, rather the assumptions we have about how communities assess, adapt, and take action. Design often assumes a sense of  predictability, but what happens when conditions are shifting, needs are evolving and the psychological weight of uncertainty gets heavier by the minute?

In times of conflict, the role of design must be reframed as a tool to create the space and conditions for sense-making, connection, collective care, and shared agency across multiple realities, both physical and digital. How do we design, and what do we design, in the face of uncertainty and when communities are dispersed or unable to meet in person? We start by community-building. Digital platforms, tools, and participatory approaches allow us to convene communities, co-create solutions, and build systems of support that strengthen relational care and expand what is possible through collective action.

When we design from lived experiences we begin to uncover informal systems that shed light on the ways communities are already adaptive. We start to build trust and collective accountability. From there, we are then able to design for dignity, and, most importantly, we can co-create tools and systems that support and amplify existing strengths.

Drawing from our experience designing Beirut Design Week, where we engaged designers and citizens across and beyond Lebanon to respond to contemporary issues such as waste management during the trash crisis, as well as from our work convening the Lebanese diaspora and residents displaced by the current war, this talk explores the power of co-design and participatory practices. These approaches can surface lived experience, redistribute power, and support futures that are responsive, collaborative, and co-created over time.

Adaptive futures emerge from shared ownership. Ultimately, in times of uncertainty, design is not just about what we create, rather it is about how communities come together, even virtually, to care for each other, learn from lived experience and co-create pathways for collective action.

Goals:

(1) Explore the role of design as a tool for cultural enhancement, community building and collective care

(2) Evaluate ways in which design must adapt during times of uncertainty to reimagine co-created futures

(3) Demonstrate how co-design and participatory methods can uncover community knowledge and amplify existing strengths.

Cristina A. Fawaz López is a design strategist and social innovation practitioner whose practice lives at the intersection of design, culture, and systems. With over ten years of experience, she helps organizations and communities navigate complex challenges through participatory research, strategic co-design, and facilitation. She has partnered with private organizations, nonprofits, governments, and academic institutions globally, often in contexts shaped by cultural transformation and displacement. From designing and launching NASA's Space Apps Collective to implementing a strategic engagement framework for Puerto Rico's reconstruction after Hurricane Maria, she creates experiences that enable participants to connect, exchange knowledge, and reimagine shared futures.

Having grown up between Puerto Rico and Lebanon and worked across Puerto Rico, Lebanon, China, the United States, Mexico, and Venezuela, she treats culture as central to ecosystem development and collective care. Drawing from her own experience living in Lebanon, she currently hosts monthly gatherings for people and communities affected by war, creating space for reflection, connection, and support across dispersed realities. Alongside her strategic practice, Cristina is a ceramic artist and is exploring Lebanese cultural heritage through perfumery and craft.