Design for the first world : Win 1000 dol­lars.

We live in a com­plex world, one full of inequities and won­der­ful things. Our fel­lows in the First World have been con­cerned for a while with us hav­ing the major share of the bad­ness, so we thought, why don’t we pay back? After all, their life isn’t problem-free either. And that’s where this com­pe­ti­tion starts.We’re call­ing artists, design­ers, tin­ker­ers, mak­ers, and thinkers with an idea to par­tic­i­pate. Two con­di­tions only: you were born in and live right now in a Devel­op­ing Coun­try and you are 13 years of age or older.

Design for the first world (Dx1W) has pro­claimed 2010 Inter­na­tional Year of the First World in Need, and has defined four main areas to address: Food Pro­duc­tion and Eat­ing Dis­or­ders, Aging Pop­u­la­tion and Low Birth rate, Immi­gra­tion and Inte­gra­tion to Soci­ety, Sus­tain­abil­ity and Over consumption.

Fur­ther­more, one of the major aims of the Year will be to demon­strate the ben­e­fi­cial effects of cul­tural diver­sity. We want to rec­og­nize the impor­tance of trans­fers and exchanges between cul­tures through implicit or explicit dia­logue that under­lines how cul­tures and civ­i­liza­tions are inter­linked and con­tribute to the progress of humankind.

The strat­egy of the Inter­na­tional Year con­sists in main­stream­ing the above-mentioned prin­ci­ples in all policy-making at local, national, regional and inter­na­tional lev­els through the involve­ment of the great­est num­ber of rel­e­vant stake­hold­ers. The activ­i­ties car­ried out under the Inter­na­tional Year focus on:

• Reduc­ing obesity.
• Address­ing aging pop­u­la­tion and low birth rate.
• Reduc­ing con­sump­tion rate of mass pro­duced goods.
• Inte­grat­ing the immigrant population.

The Dx1W com­pe­ti­tion is addressed to the devel­op­ing coun­tries of the world: All cre­ative solu­tions depend on hav­ing a pow­er­ful idea. Whether it’s great resources, mil­i­tary, pol­i­tics or gov­ern­ment, power and size are not enough with­out hav­ing a pow­er­ful vision. The First World needs our ideas to solve their prob­lems. First World prob­lems demand Sim­ple Third World solutions. From today on The Third World will bring ideas to redesign the future of the First World.

Indi­vid­ual and team sub­mis­sions are welcomed.

Steps:

• Select one of the pro­posed areas to work.
• Select a pop­u­la­tion with that prob­lem to apply your solutions.
• Think of an orig­i­nal idea that will solve the prob­lem you selected.
• Think how to apply that idea to a spe­cific com­mu­nity in the First World.
• Plan how you will make it hap­pen. Write, draw, film, design. Ren­der­ings and exten­sive plan­ning is encour­aged but not necessary.
• Use text, pho­tos, and video to explain your project.
• Reg­is­ter and Login into the site to apply.
• Sub­mit your idea on time.

The prize

The prize, oh the prize. In very First World style, the best designs and solu­tions will get a cash prize, will be fea­tured in a beau­ti­fully designed cat­a­logue and their work will be shown in a gallery in NYC. The best project will get $1000 dol­lars. 15 other designs will also be exhib­ited and show­cased in the catalog.

Eli­gi­bil­ity

• Par­tic­i­pants should be 13 years of age or older and a legal res­i­dent of a Devel­op­ing coun­try.
• The idea should not involve reli­gious advo­cacy or proselytizing.