Mike Zuckerman
Distributed AID Org - [freespace] - Habitas Rise - IRL - Institute for the Future - Buckminster Fuller Institute - MermAID
Mike creates spaces. He has designed everything from environmental nightclubs to a global network of [freespaces]. For the last 2 years Mike has turned his focus to the global human migration crisis where he has been setting up alternatives to traditional refugee camps where the refugees themselves take a leading role in their design and implementation, flipping the traditional humanitarian model. As project manager for Elpida Home last year, Mike lead a team of volunteers, refugees and local Greek contractors to build a prototype camp that what was widely recognized as the most dignified living conditions for refugees in all of Greece. Since leaving Greece he has continued investigating refugee situations from integration in Europe to the protracted and new situations that exist in Uganda and Bangladesh. He looks at how the cutting edge thoughts on the future of education, work, governance, place making, blockchain and protests can be applied to advancing the cause of displaced peoples around the globe. Like many others, he believes that the current system of international aid is broken and we need to actively create many alternative prototypes... and fast. Mike sees refugee camps as the cities of the future where leapfrog urbanism is possible. In order for this vision to become a reality it will take all of us, refugees themselves and the general population, especially those who don't see themselves as traditional humanitarians. Together we will figure this out.
