Upcycling

How can global practices and individuals share ways to effect change within the built environment? Arquitecturas Colectivas is a massive, open-source network interested in the participatory construction of the built environment. The common thread is a willingness to manipulate the fabric of the built environment.

Advocacy
Community Development

Assemble

What is the antidote to luxury apartments no one will live in? Assemble is a UK-based collective which critically examines the relationship between design, public space and public life.

Urban Strategies

Basurama

Can waste be a resource for urban transformation? Best known for creating colorful playgrounds from common landfill waste, Basurama is a collective of Spanish artists whose projects provide cultural amenities while facilitating wider conversations about waste as a resource.

Urban Strategies

Ctrl+Z

Is architecture more about community participation than materials? Ctrl+Z Architecture practices collaborative, participatory, self-construction initiatives throughout the world. It believes that at its heart, architecture is more about interaction with communities than specific materials or approaches.

Community Development
Environment
Urban Strategies

Ecosistema Urbano

Can urban biodiversity be designed? Ecosistema Urbano is a Madrid-based architecture and design firm founded in 2005 by Belinda Tato and Jose Luis Vallejo.

Urban Strategies

Episode 13 | How to Design a School for $200

Can design challenge inequality? David Barragán of Al Borde discusses how design can empower a community to become their own designers & builders.

Community Development

Episode 27 | How All Space Becomes Public Space, Pt. I

Can design reclaim public space? EXYZT and Basurama detail new ways to think about public space.

Urban Strategies

Episode 28 | How All Space Becomes Public Space, Pt. II

Can design reclaim public space? EXYZT and Basurama tell us strategies for how to take over public space.

Urban Strategies

Episode 37 | Finding Holistic Design Through History

How do we design with scarcity? Yatin Pandya discusses his philosophy of ‘holistic design’ and how he seeks new solutions for India’s future.

Environment
Housing

Episode 44 | The Blue Economy of the Future

Can a city work as an ecosystem? Jan Jongert of Superuse Studios shares experiences in designing new forms of ecology within the city.

Community Development
Environment

Episode 46 | Gardening as Urban Action

Can a city work as an ecosystem? Marco Clausen of Prinzessinnengärten discusses how they came to pioneer a form of mobile gardening, and the positive impacts it has had on their city.

Community Development
Environment

Goonj

How can donated clothing be translated into community renewal? Goonj is a non-governmental organization based in Delhi. It barters clothing and other donated items to pay laborers from the community to carry out development projects in poorer areas.

Advocacy
Community Development
Environment

Hunnarshala

2013 Prize Winner

How can artisans build a resilient community? Hunnarshala works with artisans to combine traditional building techniques with innovation. They are also engaged in training and empowering artisan entrepreneurs, bringing them into the mainstream of construction.

Conflict and Disaster
Environment
Housing

Inteligencias Colectivas

What happens when traditional and modern design techniques are blended? Inteligencias Colectivas focuses on the ‘fringe’ of construction practice. Between highly mechanized construction and ancient methods are blended practices with their own wisdom. Inteligencias Colectivas¬ collects, collates and shares these.

Advocacy
Community Development
Urban Strategies

Liter of Light

2012 Prize Winner

Can a plastic bottle bring light where electricity is scarce? Philippines based Liter of light is a global, open-source, grassroots movement committed to providing affordable, sustainable light to people with limited or no access to electricity.

Community Development

Maya Pedal

2010 Prize Winner

Can bicycles power essential tasks and support microbusinesses? In rural Guatemala, energy sources are scarce. Maya Pedal repurposes donated bicycles into pedal-powered machines that can blend food, grind corn and lift water from wells, without requiring electricity.

Community Development

Prinzessinnengärten

Why should citizens and activists reclaim public space? Prinzessinnengärten is a community garden initiative that is leading conversations about public space. Its belief is that as cities grow, they must develop sustainable ways of eating, living and moving.

Community Development
Environment

Repair Café

Can anyone repair everyday objects? The Repair Café is both an organization and a global network of cafés that emphasize the repair of everyday objects in order to promote a culture of sustainability and reuse.

Community Development

Rural Urban Framework (RUF)

2015 Prize Winner

Can design address China’s rural to urban migration? Imbalances caused by rural to urban migrations is an urgent geopolitical issue. In China, the issue is accelerating. Rural Urban Framework (RUF) works to stabilize and rebuild depopulated Chinese villages.

Community Development
Housing

STEALTH.unlimited

What are the limits of architectural practice? STEALTH.unlimited challenges notions about architectural practice by connecting arts, urban research, cultural activism and interventions. They have a particular focus on ‘common’ spaces shared by both the private and the public.

Advocacy
Community Development
Urban Strategies

Superuse Studios

Can a “blue” economy be created where one business' waste is raw materials for another? Rotterdam based Superuse Studios is at the leading edge of ecological thought. Their work pioneers ideas around an economy where the waste of one business becomes raw materials for another.

Environment

Theaster Gates

Can we design community engagement? Theaster Gates is an artist, curator, urbanist and facilitator. His projects catalyze social engagement and political change. Gates’ studio practice works in tandem with urban interventions integrating art and community regeneration.

Advocacy
Community Development

Wes Janz

2008 Prize Winner

How can designers address poverty in American cities? Architect Wes Janz focuses on the potential of informal settlements and camps housing 1 billion of the world’s poor. He sees these as a utilitarian beauty wrought of necessity.

Advocacy
Environment
Housing
Urban Strategies

YA + K

Can design free the public from hierarchical constraints in society? YA + K is a French collective that seeks new ways of understanding and defining public space. Their projects focus on low-tech innovation and the creation of new economies.

Community Development
Environment

Yatin Pandya