Skip to Main Content

Rocky Hill Country Day School Library: 2024 H4GG - UPPER SCHOOL

H4GG 2024 RESOURCES

WELCOME TO THE 2024 HACK FOR GLOBAL GOOD

Here are resources you can use during the empathize, define, and ideate phases of your design work.

1. EMPATHIZE: To create an amazing innovation, you need to understand the people (users) you are designing for. What are they struggling with? What do they want? What frustrates them? How do they live? Some of the articles below provide first-hand accounts of those who are facing sustainability challenges. For example, in the Accessibility article "The City Looks Different When You're Older", Alberto Lao mentions that it has become unsafe for him to cross the street as he has aged because crosswalks are designed for cars. The signals do not allow enough time for slower people who use walkers and other assistive devices to cross the street before the signal changes. This article helps me understand his desire for mobility and his fear of being injured. 

2. DEFINE: Once you have a general idea of the big problem/issue you want to tackle during the H4GG (i.e. accessible crosswalks), you need to clearly define the part of that big problem that you want to create an innovative solution to. A well-defined problem statement clearly states the user, what they want, and why they want it. For example, Alberto Lao wants to be able to safely cross busy roads with his walker because he values his independence and desires the ability to be able to walk to the places he needs and wants to go.

3. IDEATE: With a clearly defined problem statement, you are ready to ideate (or brainstorm) solutions. For a solution to be innovative, it must be something that has not already been created. Use the resources below and others to get ideas that you can build off of and make your own. For example, someone already created a cross walk signal to help people safely cross the road. You can innovate off of that idea and create one that has buttons that allow you to specify the speed at which you will be walking across so that they signal will not change when you are in the middle of it.

Food

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION: Why is it important for people in cities to have access to fresh, nutritious foods?

Questions to Consider:

  • Who is unable to access fresh, nutritious foods? Why?
  • Is there any unused space in cities that could be used for producing fresh, nutritious foods? 
  • How can a city have a problem with a lack of access to fresh, nutritious foods and a problem with food waste at the same time?
  • How does climate impact a city's ability to produce its own food?

Transportation

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION: What is preventing people from accessing and using safe, affordable, and ecologically-friendly forms of transportation?

Questions to Consider:

  • Why don't more people use public transportation?
  • How can we get more people to use public transportation?
  • How can we create transportation options that are better for the environment?
  • Are our cities/communities walkable? If yes, why aren't people walking more? If no, how can we increase their walkability?

Resources:

Accessibility

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION: Services, resources, and opportunities in cities are not accessible to all.

Questions to Consider:

  • What services, resources, and opportunities in cities are not accessible to those with mobility, vision, hearing, or other impairments?
  • How does a lack of access to these service, resources, or opportunities impact quality of life?

Resources:

Disaster/Climate Change Preparedness

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION: Climate change is causing an increase in natural disasters that are threatening city infrastructure and residents.

Questions to Consider:

  • What parts of cities are at most risk from climate-related disasters?
  • Who is positioned to support those impacted by climate-related disasters?
  • Which climate-related disasters threaten the city/area you live in?

Resources:

Housing

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION: Cities have large numbers of homeless people due to a lack of safe, affordable housing.

Questions to Consider:

  • Who is most impacted by the lack of safe, affordable housing?
  • What are the causes of unsafe housing/neighborhoods? 
  • What causes rents and housing costs to be so high?
  • Is there unused space in cities that could be used for affordable, safe housing?
  • Do all age groups have the same housing wants and needs?

Inequities

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION: Poverty prevents all community members from being able to contribute to society and from reaching their full potential.

Questions to Consider:

  • Who is most impacted by poverty?
  • What supports and resources might help people move out of poverty?
  • What supports and resources might help prevent people from slipping into poverty?

Resources:

Green Space

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION: What happens when a city does not have ample green space? How do green spaces benefit cities and communities?

Questions to Consider: 

  • How can green spaces serve multiple purposes?
  • What parts of cities would benefit most from additional green spaces?
  • How can green spaces be affordably maintained and cared for?
  • What types of green spaces are underrepresented in cities and communities?

Resources:

 

Energy

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION: What is preventing people from using more sustainable energy sources?

Questions to Consider:

  • Why aren't builders and consumers opting to use more sustainable energy sources?
  • Who/what are the biggest consumers of energy in cities and communities?
  • Where is the most energy being wasted?
  • What forms of energy are the biggest threats to sustainability?
  • What are the connections between global warming and energy production and consumption?

Resources:

Waste Management

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION: Without good waste management plans, significant health and environmental problems result.

Questions to Consider:

  • What is the biggest contributor to food waste?
  • What prevents people from recycling?
  • What are the problems with landfills?

Resources: