Co-Designing a Sensitive Early Warning Infrastructure in Maroantsetra, Madagascar.

Early Warning Systems (EWS) are widely recognized as a cornerstone of disaster risk reduction; yet, their effectiveness depends not only on scientific accuracy but also on how warnings are translated into a collective understanding and timely action at the community level. In many hazard-prone contexts, early warnings fail not because data is unavailable, but because communication infrastructures do not align with local languages, temporalities, and practices of attention. This paper presents a situated design research project in development in Maroantsetra, Madagascar, which reframes EWS as a socio-spatial and relational infrastructure.

The project is being developed through a collaboration between EPFL–ALICE Lab, the NGO Medair, local communities in Ambinanitelo, Ankofa, and Anjanazana, and national disaster management institutions (CPGU). It explores the co-design of a Sensitive Risk Warning Infrastructure (SRWI) that integrates institutional early-warning protocols with vernacular communication systems and environmental indicators, including town criers, drums, conch shells, and animal behaviour. Rather than replacing scientific alerts, the approach focuses on translation, rehearsal, and trust-building as key conditions for effective anticipatory action.

Methodologically, the ongoing research combines walk-along interviews, participatory mapping, role-play rehearsals, and low-tech prototyping to identify breakdowns in the warning chain and to co-design hybrid warning practices. Preliminary findings indicate that warning communication is inherently spatial and material, unfolding through proximity, sound, visibility, and shared places such as schools and community halls. By foregrounding these dimensions, the SRWI aims to advance a community-centred and impact-oriented approach to EWS, enhancing comprehension, ownership, and timely response.

The paper contributes to ongoing discussions on community engagement, last-mile communication, and anticipatory action by presenting design as an interface between scientific warning systems and situated action. Developed in parallel with the Architectures of Emergency research and an Atlas of Inhabiting Emergency, it connects multiple geographies of risk and positions design as a form of spatial inquiry that supports infrastructures of care, enabling communities to sense, interpret, and rehearse risk collectively.