Now:here
2024 Design Build Challenge.

Why?

our ecosystem isn’t just changing, it is collapsing.

The world needs more than vocal activists, it needs your innovative solutions to adapt and respond.

Hurricanes and tornadoes are becoming more frequent, last longer, and are more violent. Extreme heat, drought, and wildfires ruin landscapes and force large-scale migrations. And while many of these acute disasters are visually heartbreaking, there are other, slow-onset, disasters like rising sea levels and coastal subsidence that will eventually consume entire nations. Several of those nations are in the Pacific Ocean.

Communities living on low lying islands and coral atolls are at the frontline of the ecosystem collapse. We can now estimate with some precision how many years these nations have left until they will be forced to relocate their population, culture, and history. The Republic of the Marshall Islands are a prime example of a nation state that has less than 50 years before they’ll lose their ability to live on islands they’ve made their home since before the fall of Rome. 

That near-term loss does not mean we should turn our backs and no longer support the current needs of those communities. Ideas are needed, because the Marshall Islands are just the first. Many coastal peoples will soon face the same challenges, and it’s time to get our global creativity flowing. 

In 2014, a king tide flooded the capital city of Majuro, displacing 1,000 people from their homes. Simultaneously the atoll was hit by a severe drought and emergency solar-powered reverse osmosis units were shipped out to shore up drinking water supplies. This was the perfect storm of environmental disasters - flooding and drought.

For the last few years a coalition has come together for the Marshall Islands. We include indigenous, academic, political, and humanitarian partners, and we’re challenging the world to develop sustainable solutions for the last homes that will ever be used on their islands. 

The Now:Here design challenge is looking for innovative deployable housing that can adapt to rising sea levels and, when needed, can be relocated to other land (or to water?) mutually agreed to by the affected community and their hosts. We are looking to house families that are here now, before they are left nowhere. 

The best way to prevent future displacement is by creating a shelter strategy that can be used for generations to come. We believe solutions from this design competition can be used for atolls and islands and coastal peoples at risk everywhere in the world.

Partner Organizations

Kwajalein Atoll Sustainability Lab
Worldchanging Institute
Applied Hope Foundation
and others