This project will be presented at Conflux HQ Friday, September 12, from 1:00 PM to 1:45 PM as part of the Friday Presentation Series. Tickets can be purchased here.

Project Description::

The FEMA Trailer has come to symbolize many of the environmental, social, economic, and administrative challenges associated with temporary disaster housing. FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) purchased approximately 145,000 travel trailers and mobile homes to house those displaced by Hurricane Katrina beginning in Fall 2005. Since their deployment, the trailers have been tied to a host of issues, including formaldehyde off-gassing (at the center of a class-action lawsuit against FEMA and trailer manufacturers), surplus trailers currently sitting in paid parking lots across the country, mental health problems in trailer parks, the lack of affordable housing in many regions of the Gulf Coast, etc.

The goal of the MIT FEMA Trailer Project is to catalyze positive change in these areas by utilizing research, dialogue, and design to generate alternative uses of surplus FEMA Trailers. The Project will:
1. Engage in research and dialogue about the historical and current environmental, political, and social issues related to the FEMA Trailer.
2. Formulate feasible, socially conscious, and innovative alternative uses of surplus FEMA Trailers through the MIT FEMA Trailer Challenge, a competition produced in conjunction with the MIT Public Service Center.
3. Compile and present alternative uses of surplus trailers generated by the Challenge to FEMA, other governmental agencies, and interested parties.
4. Transform an existing trailer currently located MIT into an alternative space in collaboration with a community organization.

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