Designing Against Disaster

Miho Mazereeuw, Faculty

Mazereeuw believes “preemptive design” is essential for any urban plan. The founder of the Urban Risk Lab has developed evacuation strategies for earthquake- and hurricane-prone areas of Haiti, and is working on a resilient housing plan for Kalinganagar in the cyclone-lashed Indian state of Odisha. “We have little control over natural disasters or hazards,” the architect says. “But we have great control over where we live, and how we plan, structure, and build our cities.”