Design & Innovation Strategist
Cristina Fawaz López
Talk
Co-Designing Adaptive Futures During Times of Uncertainty & Conflict
In times of conflict, the role of design must be reframed — as a way to create the space and conditions for sense-making, connection, collective care and shared agency across multiple realities, both physical and digital. Drawing on Beirut Design Week and work with the Lebanese diaspora displaced by war, Cristina shows how co-design and participatory practice surface lived experience and amplify a community’s strengths.
Profile
Cristina is a design strategist and social-innovation practitioner working at the intersection of design, culture and systems, with over ten years partnering with companies, nonprofits, governments and universities in contexts shaped by cultural transformation and displacement. Her work includes designing NASA’s Space Apps Collective and strategic engagement for Puerto Rico’s post-Hurricane Maria reconstruction. Having grown up between Puerto Rico and Lebanon, she foregrounds culture in ecosystem development, hosts monthly gatherings for war-affected communities, and explores ceramics and Lebanese heritage.