Brief

The World Bank asked SCAD to study how climate change might impact millennial's future (2027) energy consumption/saving behaviors in domestic environments.

Abstract

A climate refugee crisis in the Southeastern states would lead to a multitude of unpredictable scenarios. To gain a deeper understanding of how these hypothetical refugee camp environments might work and how people will react to them we employ User  Enactments (UE). The UE allows teams to explore new technologies, forms, roles and behaviors in unknown design spaces.

Scenario

Even at a two degree temperature increase, coastal communities like Savannah are under threat from rising sea levels. We imagine a scenario in which hurricanes and flooding have displaced thousands of people from their homes in Chatham county. These people are housed in a hypothetical refugee camp near Bloomingdale, GA.

Boundary Object

“Boundary objects are objects which are both plastic enough to adapt to local needs and constraints of the several parties employing them, yet robust enough to maintain a common identity across sites. They are weakly structured in common use, and become strongly structured in individual-site use. They may be abstract or concrete.” -Susan Leigh Star and James R. Griesemer in a 1989 publication (p. 393)

We created a digital refugee ID as a catalyst for discussion. The ID functioned as a digital meter of water and electricity usage and as automatic ration vouchers redeemable in the camp facilities.

Simulated Environment

A simulation of a refugee camp is set up to create an immersive experience for participants, including:

Introduction

Participants are led through a briefing presentation describing the state of the environment ten years into the future (2027) and details concerning the refugee camp.

Questionnaire

Participants are asked to answer questions concerning their position as a refugee in the midst of a climate crisis and being displaced from their homes. The survey is a priming, contemplation and immersion exercise.

Mood Board

Participants are given a series of questions concerning climate change to answer with images from the internet they feel best correspond to the subject.

Food Rationing

Food and water rations meant to last a week are distributed to participants, while some are purposefully excluded to simulate the experience of running out of materials at the campsite.

Analysis & Insights

Our interviews, surveys, and mood boards were coded to understand what participants were saying. We grouped our data and insights into categories, clusters, and themes to improve our understanding.

Codebook

The results of our affinitization and coding resulted in this table broken down by categories.

Authority

Millennials might have contradictory feelings about the role of government in a crisis. Most participants expressed conflicting emotions of hope and trust in the authorities, and a simultaneous distrust of both their capabilities and motives. A balance must be maintained to ensure civil order.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Psychologist Abraham Maslow devised a categorized system of the stimulations and needs of people that progress from their needs for survival, to behavior, to specific motivations, etc. Our research revealed a reversal of this structure.

Study participants expressed a consistent hierarchy of needs and values. Surprisingly, despite thirst and hunger, participants desired information and communication with loved ones before rationing.

The Gap Between Knowing & Doing

When discussing what participants plan to do to address climate change, there is a wide gap between understanding and taking action. Most participants were conscious of the grave threat but felt powerless as individuals. This comes from not understanding specific dangers and lacking concrete actions. Climate change is a vague intellectual threat.

Identity & Agency

Participants felt consistently uncomfortable with the lack of control presented in the camp. A climate refugee crisis would have profound impact on millennial identity, and sense of agency.

Future States

Even on a small scale, it’s possible to visualize how people will respond to climate change in the future. Unfortunately, that future may not be what we expect, as humans continue to contribute to global warming and wasting resources.

Ideally, we will be able to maintain the rise in global temperature and prevent a climate catastrophe that would otherwise occur if the temperature were to increase any more than 3 degrees Celsius. As of now, considering the government’s use of resources and lack of preventative action, it is likely all efforts in helping those affected by climate change will be reactionary and ultimately have long-term consequences to both our society and our environment.

In Conclusion

A delicate balance between amicability, cooperation, order and unrest, anxiety, compliance, and chaos exists within individuals and refugee communities. Displacement and rationing has profound effects of a refugee’s sense of agency, identity, and their relationship to authority and each other.