designboom social awareness award 2006 — the non-profit design competition under the title ‘shelter in a cart’ has been very successful. 4247 designers and / or organizations from 95 countries have participated.

many more of you deserved to be chosen. the jury made its selections, and from the combination of choices the 5 winner and runners-up were chosen.

homelessness is a complex issue encompassing multiple facets of society. the theme (and the jury decision) caused much controversy and the here presented 130 variations on the theme are already widely discussed across many sites. it is no surprise to us that we are receiving comments suggesting that we are doing something superficial and self-satisfying, but in answer to that, we say that design is the tool we know best, so we will use it to bring social discussion to our audience. the massive participation rate made it clear that there is a growing awareness of the homeless issue. read more