2016-2020

This research study presents new insights on the inadequacies of International non-Government Agencies to the refugee crisis in Kos through the optic of design. The research investigates the activities of the unofficial volunteer group Kos-Solidarity (KS) who provided essential frontline humanitarian assistance as no official reception facilities existed at the time. The methodological approach brings together three datasets. 

Six years of Hellenic Republic Ministry of Citizen Protection National Coordination Center for the Border Control, Immigration and Asylum (NCCBCIA) and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency statistics were synthesised to provide a comprehensive situational understanding of the scale of migratory flow to the island of Kos. Data collection trips in 2016 and 2018 recorded three improvised refugee settlements and preserved 60 spectral artefacts from Captain Elias hotel, the Archaeological Park and the ‘Annex’- a site adjacent to Frontex’s Reception Information Centre in Pyli. Acting as material witnesses, these artefacts were catalogued and used to structure object-based interviews with former KS volunteers to understand the operational challenges they faced. Their oral testimonies were thematically analysed using the Listening Guide methodology consisting of four separate readings: plot, self-voice, relationships and social/ political structures. 

Research findings informed the development of low-cost interventions that responded to identified provision and product failings within the ‘preparation’ phase of the disaster risk reduction cycle. One such intervention is the augmentation of the UNHCR’s ubiquitous grey thermal fleece blanket; a core relief product that has remained impervious to change for 60 years.