Urban fragility arises when authorities fail to provide basic services, rupturing the social contract. Legitimacy, authority, and the capacity of institutions decline, hindering functions like security, infrastructure, and access to essentials. As more and more migrants around the world move from the country to booming cities, and as more and more refugees are displaced from their home to makeshift emergency villages that become permanent and expand uncontrollably, fragility has become a wicked problem. What can architecture do? We explore this question in Design Emergency co- founder Paola Antonelli’s interview with Italian-born, Somali architect Omar Degan, founder of DO Architecture and Design. Omar and his team specialize insustainability, emergency architecture, and post-conflict reconstruction. His work, in Mogadishu and beyond, reflects his belief in using architecture as a tool for peace and development in distressed areas. Following his post-graduate degree in Emergency Contexts and Developing Countries from the Polytechnic of Turin, Italy, Omar decided to focus on culturally and historically relevant solutions in fragile contexts globally. He co-founded FragilityLab in 2023, aiming to promote peace and development through architecture and he is currently at work on an expanded version of the United Nations guidelines for architecture in states of emergency. You can find images of Omar and his work on our Instagram grid @design.emergency. Please join us for future episodes of Design Emergency when we will hear from other global design leaders who, like Omar, are at the forefront of positive change. Design Emergency is supported by a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.