Facing Vulnerability: Sustainable Healthcare Design in the Global South

Abstract

This paper presents the results of some design and research activities developed over a fifteen-year period in the field of sustainable design approaches in the global south. All these experiences are based upon a multidisciplinary and holistic approach, focused both on technical feasibility as well as environmental and social sustainability. The paper explains this approach and shows three different case studies related to healthcare design in the global south from the perspective of reducing vulnerability in local communities. The first one is a small-sized project related to the design of a medical dispensary in Chakama, Malindi, Kenya. The main idea is to design a modular and expandable unit that could be used as a prototype to be implemented in different locations of the same region. The second one is a mid-sized project focused on the Ayamè General Hospital in the Ivory Coast, as an example of a long-term cooperation activity focused on building development and management. The third one refers to a large-sized project related to the design of the new Campus of the University Foundation Juan de Castellanos of Tunja, Colombia, including a new mother and child hospital. The three projects are clearly very different in size and context of implementation, but they are linked not only by the same health function, but also by the same general methodological approach. The three projects also share the same focus on improving access to local health services in order to reduce social vulnerability in fragile contexts.