Contribution
What is learned, tested, questioned or made transferable.
Call for Contributions · Issue 01
Designing for Displacement
From Emergency Response to Mobility Systems and Belonging
We invite grounded ideas, cases, studies, visual arguments, dialogues and critical resources that help the field understand what responsible design means in displacement contexts.
routes thresholds commons belonging
01 / Focus
A systems question—not a shelter-only problem.
Issue 01 asks how physical, spatial, service, informational and institutional design shapes routes, arrival, access, protection, habitability, tenure, public infrastructure, data exposure and long-term belonging for displaced people and host communities.
We especially welcome contributions that make decision processes, power, evidence, limitations and transferable learning visible.
Submission tracks
Ten connected fields of inquiry.
- 01
Arrival, access and urban incorporation
- 02
Route-based support and temporal infrastructures
- 03
Planned relocation, retreat and mobility governance
- 04
From shelter to dwelling: habitability, tenure and service ecosystems
- 05
Shared urban commons and host-community infrastructure
- 06
Urban protection and civilian infrastructure in conflict
- 07
Habitability under climate and public-health stress
- 08
Information design, GIS and remote sensing without harm
- 09
Co-design under constraint and participatory decision architectures
- 10
Measuring dignity, agency and belonging
Contribution formats
Different forms. Appropriate rigour.
Choose the form that best carries the knowledge—not the form that looks most academic.
FormatLengthEssential elementsReview route
Research & Innovation3,000–6,000 words
Methods, references, limitations and a plain-language summary.
Editorial; optional peer reviewCase Study / Field Report1,500–3,500 words
Context, actions, outcomes, trade-offs and ethics note; visuals encouraged.
Editorial; selected community commentaryDialogue / Interview1,500–2,500 words
Clear framing, consent and a practice takeaway.
EditorialDesign Showcase / Visual Essay800–1,500 words + visuals
Captions, permissions, context, provenance and a visual-ethics note.
Editorial; selected community commentaryEmerging Voices800–1,500 words
A clear contribution and relevance; developmental support where feasible.
Editorial / developmentalReviews & Resources500–1,000 words
Accurate description, critical assessment and practical orientation.
Editorial02 / What matters
A strong proposal will make five things visible.
Evidence
Evidence suited to the format, with an honest account of limitations and at least one trade-off.
Use
One practical insight another practitioner, community or institution could assess or adapt.
Responsibility
Attention to dignity, consent, safeguarding, data sensitivity and visual or location risk.
Authority
A feasible permissions and co-authorship plan where community knowledge or images are involved.
Who should propose
Expertise is plural.
Practitioners, researchers, designers, technologists, students, artists, public authorities, refugee- and migrant-led organisations, community organisations and people with lived experience. No university affiliation is required. Interdisciplinary and co-authored proposals are welcome.
0submission or publication fees
Key dates
One clear route to publication.
01
Call opens
10 September 202602
Abstract / proposal deadline
31 October 202603
Proposal outcomes
By 20 November 202604
Full contribution deadline
15 January 202705
Editorial feedback
By 26 February 202706
Revised contributions
By 26 March 202707
Issue 01 publication
30 May 2027Submit proposalsd4hjournal@fordham.edu
Editorial enquiriesapreato@fordham.edu · Alberto Preato