For the past 30 years, SPARC has worked to organize, legitimize and advocate for India’s urban poor, seeking to achieve the improvement of living conditions and advancements in the recognition of their rights as citizens.

SPARC’s activities are based on the principle that the urban poor can and must become the makers of their own destiny and can play this role if given appropriate structural support. The strength of this organization comes through their alliance with the National Slum Dwellers Federation (NSDF) and Mahila Milan (Women Together), a collective of women living in slums. The alliance works within provisional communities to address housing and sanitation challenges, move individuals towards financial independence, and help them gain visibility and access to public services.

Insecure land tenure, inadequate housing and a lack of access to basic amenities for the urban poor are some of the core issues facing today’s rapidly urbanizing world. According to UN-Habitat, approximately 25 percent of the world’s urban population lives in slums. In parts of India, the situation is much more dire. The World Bank estimates that more than half of Mumbai’s inhabitants are pavement dwellers or live in provisional housing with inadequate sanitation, light, or water.

“Governments have allowed the proliferation of informal settlements by simply not caring for them,” says SPARC founding director Sheela Patel. “This is not going to change unless people who are from those groups start making demands and changing their relationship to the city.”

SPARC was founded in 1984 by a group of social activists fighting against the indiscriminate evictions of slum and pavement dwellers from their communities. The group expanded rapidly using their emerging relationship with NSDF and Mahila Milan to create an innovative federation model, named the Indian Alliance. Together, the Alliance organized the first comprehensive census of pavement dwellers, developed a credit system for their use while fighting for a more dignified habitat.

Today, through its alliance with NSDF and Mahila Milan, SPARC is active in more than 70 cities across India as a change agent with solutions that can be scaled for other groups domestically and internationally. In addition to policy advocacy, SPARC has facilitated the construction of housing for more than 8,500 families and built community toilets for more than 500,000 toilet seats in slums that have no facilities. Their nonprofit construction company—SPARC Samudaya Nirman Sahayak (SSNS) now jointly owned by the partners of the Alliance—has built 3,879 in-situ houses, rehabbed 3,900 units, built 878 community toilets, granted 1,324 loans to homeowners.

Slow/d is an Italian organization seeking to disrupt traditional supply chains in design by connecting designers, consumers & artisans directly.

For many small-scale designers, connecting products to consumers is difficult. The process therefore becomes controlled by manufacturers, almost by default. Manufacturers mass-produce, market, and promote designs that work well. This separates the connection between artisan and consumer. Interesting, useful products may never reach any market at all.

Slow/d uses a variety of means to disrupt this paradigm. They work with artisans to design supply chains from scratch. They will also organize training sessions, workshops, and ‘moments of confrontation’ between design professionals and the allied professions which eventually utilize design services. Fundamentally, they are trying to ‘de-corporatize’ design – returning the authorship of design back to the people who really matter: the designer and the user.

From the Slow/d manifesto: “the blinding need to generate profits has created a system of production and distribution based on the exploitation of the weak. The environmental impacts of the global logistics system are unsustainable. We have to produce what people need, when people need it and where people need it. This means supporting local economies, networks of small producers of high quality goods, once again gathering people and processes in support of the culture of know-how.”

While wind turbines are becoming more common, rarely do you see them in an urban environment. Shawn Frayne wants to change that, in hopes of harnessing energy on wind-rich bridges, skyscrapers, and underpasses.

Working in Haiti, Shawn Frayne, a then 28-year-old inventor based in Mountain View, Calif., saw the need for small-scale wind power to juice LED lamps and radios in the homes of the poor. Conventional wind turbines don’t scale down well—there’s too much friction in the gearbox and other components. So he took a new route, studying the way vibrations caused by the wind led to the collapse in 1940 of Washington’s Tacoma Narrows Bridge (aka Galloping Gertie). Frayne recognized that instead of kerosene lamps, white LEDs powered by a very inexpensive wind generator might be able to get better light homes and schools in the area. Initially however, when Shawn tried to design this affordable, turbine-based wind generator, he realized that turbine technology is too inefficient at the scales he intended to be a viable option. These constraints of cost and local manufacture led to a new invention, the world’s first turbine-less wind generator.

Frayne’s device, which he calls a Windbelt, is a taut membrane fitted with a pair of magnets that oscillate between metal coils. Prototypes have generated 40 milliwatts in 10-mph slivers of wind, making his device 10 to 30 times as efficient as the best microturbines. Though Frayne’s business model relies on licensing his clean tech innovation to the United States, China, and other large nations, the Windbelt was conceived with the developing world in mind.  Frayne envisions the Windbelt costing a few dollars and replacing kerosene lamps in Haitian homes.

Today, Frayne continues to explore clean energy alternatives through his companies Humdinger Wind Energy, LLC and Haddock Invention. Recent projects include the Solar Pocket Factory, a small machine that could enable local, cost-effective production of micro solar panels.

Professor Sergio Palleroni has been a long-standing leader, thinker, practitioner and educator in the field of social impact design, with a career that predates the term ‘public interest design.’ He is currently a faculty member and director of the Centre for Public Interest Design in the School of Architecture at Portland State University

Drawing inspiration from educators/philosophers like Paolo Freire and Ivan Illych, Palleroni began working in the 1980’s in Nicaragua, working for the Sandinista government in the aftermath of the Nicaraguan revolution. From there, his work took him to Mexico, where he worked on reconstruction after the Mexico City earthquake. These experiences became the basis of a revolutionary pedagogy begun in the late 1980s. While the idea of a design/build studio, or a studio abroad program, was not new, the philosophy at the core of Palleroni’s teaching was a watershed in architectural education.

In 1995, Palleroni founded the BASIC Initiative, a groundbreaking educational program between Portland State University and the University of Texas at Austin which sought to move students out of the design studio and into communities. It supports a range of projects working with poor and underserved constituencies. For example, housing and community services for migrant farm workers, housing for Native Americans and schools and health clinics in central Mexico. These programs combine appropriate technologies with reinforcing local values to inspire self-initiated development.  

Palleroni also developed and implemented the U.S.’s first academic certification for those wishing to pursue a career in public interest design. The certification requires coursework and field work addressing diverse issues including: non-profit management, urban poverty, ecology and citizen participation. Certification is open to both graduate students and working professionals interested in entering the field of social design.

Along the way, Palleroni has trained and mentored generations of public interest designers who continue to influence the field in their own way. As a leading member of the Design for the Common Good Network, a network of design consortiums from around the globe, Palleroni has worked towards creating spaces for new work in the field of social design to find a growing audience and greater support and engagement through biennial conferences and exhibitions. He has succeeded in being a revolutionary for the past thirty years and shows no signs of stopping. 

We had an opportunity to speak with Sergio Palleroni about his thirty year career in Social Impact Design on Social Design Insights. Listen to the episodes below.

Sanergy is a business and sanitation initiative that works with municipalities to provide safe and affordable access to non-sewered sanitation solutions to residents.

Founded in 2011, Sanergy developed a sustainable systems-based approach to sanitation and waste management in cities, starting with Nairobi, Kenya. Using a sustainable systems-based approach, Sanergy designs and builds sanitation products and services that are distributed to urban residents of low-income, non-sewered areas. On a regular basis, all waste is safely removed and transported out of the community. To date, Sanergy serves two of Kenya’s biggest cities, Nairobi and Kisumu, through a network of nearly 5,000 sanitation units that serve over 150,000 urban residents every single day.  

In addition, the company has expanded to safely collect other streams of organic waste including kitchen, agricultural, and municipal organic waste that pollutes the environment and contributes to harmful greenhouse gas when left in the open. This waste, along with sanitation waste generated in urban informal settlements is transported to Sanergy’s organics recycling plant for treatment and upcycling. Three key products are then manufactured from the waste: insect protein through the rearing of black soldier fly larvae, organic fertilizer through thermophilic co-composting, and biomass briquettes through compression. These products solve yet another critical challenge that our world faces today – food insecurity and changing climatic conditions. 

Even though 80% of Kenyans rely on agriculture for their livelihood, a sustainable supply of quality agricultural inputs is lacking. Feed millers/livestock farmers face significant shortages of proteins, and in particular, animal-based proteins, while horticultural farmers lack organic fertilizers for their crops. In fact, poor soil health has been named among the top challenges causing low farm yields for most farmers. In addition, local industries face inadequate options for sustainable green fuels for their operations.

Sanergy’s closed-loop circular model promotes regenerative solutions while creating green jobs and significant carbon offsets and removal. Every year, the company removes 50,000 tons of sanitation and organic waste, offsets 20,000+ tons of CO2, and is serving 4,000+ farmers who see a 30% increase in yields from using Sanergy’s agricultural inputs.   

Sanergy currently has goals to expand its organic waste management services across Africa and Asia and offset more than 1,000,000T of carbon emissions per year in the next decade.

"Everybody wants the same thing, rich or poor, not only a warm, dry room, but a shelter for the soul," said Rural Design Studio founder Samuel Mockabee. In 1993, Mockabee took that vision to rural Hale County, Alabama, one of the poorest areas of the United States, in the form of his visionary Rural Studio. An off¬ campus design¬ build program of Auburn University.

Mockbee’s founding philosophy was simple: move students out of the studio, into the community, and let them serve. Mockbee believed that design could be about balance. It was naïve to think that the rich and the poor weren’t different – but design was a tool to serve all of humanity, rather than just being in service of the interests of the rich.

In its early days, the studio became known for recycling and reusing – at a time when the word ‘upcycling’ didn’t exist. However, the work contained an intrinsic environmental responsibility and budgetary constraints often forced Mockbee and his students to be creative.

The Rural Studio’s projects have become increasingly complex over the years and often feature multiple teams of students working semester after semester. Students work together with community members to find projects, design solutions, fundraise and ultimately build. The program is notable for teaching students the entire process of social design, including outreach and grant ­writing. Students spend their entire fifth year in Hale County working on a project and then often stay a year after graduation to finish construction. In addition to housing, the Studio has produced a number of community projects such as a town hall and an animal shelter, to name a few.

The Studio undertakes serial projects as well, and is well known for its 20K house project. The project is actually a full line of houses – 21 have been built so far. The project’s ambition is to create a line of houses which can be designed and built for twenty thousand dollars, which can then be added to a contractor’s product line.

To date, the Studio has completed over 170 projects and educated over 800 students. Through its work, the Rural Studio has actually served as a template for public ­interest, design/build education, inspiring dozens of imitators at universities around the world.

In 2010, Sam Wainwright Douglas captured the work in his documentary Citizen Architect: Samuel Mockbee and the Spirit of the Rural Studio.

RootStudio is a multidisciplinary design studio originating in Oaxaca City, Mexico that develops structures and housing for communities in need.

RootStudio emphasizes community participation and engagement throughout the design process. The studio has no predefined ‘style,’  instead preferring materials and techniques based on the vernacular of the area in which they are working. Projects typically employ ‘natural’ building systems, such as rainwater collection, passive ventilation, and more. Ultimately, the team aims to create strategies and utilize materials that are replicable on other projects in the community. 

In 2015, after the earthquake in Nepal, RootStudio was invited to design and build a model house. Using local, accessible materials, they built two prototype houses out of bamboo and partitions, via a collaboration between locals and volunteers that came to the region. The prototypes respond to the need for quickly-built housing with the goal of providing independence and immediate shelter, while simultaneously introducing basic building techniques. 

As a part of the process, members of the community learn skills they need to reproduce the project themselves. The bamboo structure can be adapted, enlarged, or even be built on a larger scale due to the introduction of the basic bamboo connections.

More recently, from September 2018 to April 2019, RootStudio and architect Paz Braga worked on the design of an academy to be used by a non-profit organization, Girl Move, which empowers women in vulnerable contexts. Previously, the organization, which delivers 3 main programs to approximately 1,130 women and girls yearly, had been working between two buildings in Nampula, Mozambique without all requirements necessary to best help their clients. The design had to allow enough room for the team at Girl Move to operate in one place. Beyond functionality, RootStudio wanted the building to inspire others, utilizing innovation and sustainability while valuing local resources and knowledge.

Once completed, the project had a great impact on the community, the University, and the region as a whole. 85% of the building was made with brick, produced locally using traditional techniques. Students and community members were invited to participate in the building process, allowing knowledge to be shared. Additionally, the use of the earth in the construction granted dignity to a material normally considered to be “poor material.”

While RootStudio is based in Mexico, the team have now worked all over the world, including in locations such as Nepal, Mozambique, India, Azores, and Morocco.

Founded in 1991 by Dr. Suad Amiry and a group of fellow architects and intellectuals, RIWAQ is a Ramallah-based non-profit organization that protects and develops architectural heritage in Palestine.

RIWAQ’s mission is to protect, restore, and rehabilitate the architectural and cultural heritage in Palestine through its main programs: the Restoration Program, the Regeneration of the 50 Most Significant Historic Centers, and the Community and Cultural Program. RIWAQ contributes to the production and dissemination of knowledge about heritage through its Research and Publications Program and works on building a conducive institutional and legal environment. RIWAQ also seeks to provide job opportunities in conservation and restoration through its Job Creation Program.

Over 30 years of work, RIWAQ has been able to document over 50,320 historic buildings in more than 422 villages, towns, and cities in the West Bank, Gaza, and Jerusalem. RIWAQ has also managed to create an alternative cultural infrastructure in rural areas through the adaptive reuse of more than 130 historic buildings to serve as premises for women’s associations, youth centers, children’s libraries, and more. 

For the past 6 years, RIWAQ has been working to respond to the geopolitical challenges facing Jerusalem, including separation, fragmentation, and marginalization. Through the “Life Jacket Project,” RIWAQ has developed an approach that considers rural Jerusalem as one cluster rather than a group of single villages. RIWAQ explored the rehabilitation possibilities of the historic centers within their broader urban context and their historic relations with each other on one hand and with the city of Jerusalem on the other. The villages that RIWAQ has worked on include Beit Iksa, Jaba’, Kafr ‘Aqab, Al-Jib, and Qalandiya.

RIWAQ’s work in the Jerusalem cluster not only includes the restoration and preservation of historic centers but also provides a program based on community and research activities that link villages and their communities and try to revive their crafts and landscapes as well as historical, social, and cultural relationships.

In 2021, RiWAQ focused its efforts on activating the previously restored spaces in Kafr ‘Aqab and Qalandiya by making them available for use by institutions and active groups to contribute to attracting activities and life to the historic centers.

In the past two years, RIWAQ has been working to reach a wider audience in Palestine and beyond through digital campaigns, webinars, and its new membership program, “Friends of RIWAQ.”

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.

The idea for the Repair Cafe was originally conceived in 2009 by Martine Postma, a Dutch journalist, who began with the idea that we could reduce what we put in landfills by taking the time and energy to repair, rather than to replace. The premise is simple: the Café furnishes all the tools and materials one might need to repair or mend a wide variety of household items, including clothes, bicycles, furniture, and electrical appliances. People who need things repaired are paired with specialists, and an emphasis is placed on teaching the owner how to repair the item independently.

The process is meant to transcend a mere market transaction. Those seeking repairs do not just come by and drop off a broken item to be picked up later. Instead, the visitor and the specialist sit down together, explore the problem, and devise a solution, leading to increased social capital. 

This process is also meant to be a provocation: the culture created within a repair café encourages people to think differently about the items of their everyday life. Instead of immediately throwing something away and buying a new one, people are exposed to an alternative. Many household items are easily repaired with the right skills and tools. The process, therefore, engenders both ecological and social benefits in the setting of a relaxed café.

Beyond the original location in the Netherlands, Repair Cafés have spread to Belgium, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and dozens of other countries around the world. Currently, there are over 2,000 Repair Cafés in almost forty countries, all operated on a volunteer basis.

The Refugee Academy is a Berlin-based non-profit that creates learning spaces for refugees seeking to assimilate. It was founded in response to the influx of refugees into Germany and represents a challenge to more conservative, dehumanizing methods for settling refugees.

Historically, the most common way of dealing with refugees is to quarantine them in the least desirable part of the city or country and shelter them there quasi-permanently. Optimally, refugees could find sanctuary in another country and be moved along. The world needs new ways to think about refugees – ways that do not stigmatize or ghettoize, but support new forms of assimilation and interaction.

The Refugee Academy is founded on the belief that refugees and immigrants can be a national asset. With their open education philosophy rooted in the UN’s universal declaration of human rights, the Academy provides native-language education to help migrants find work within Germany. It utilizes volunteers who are willing to teach, and the curriculum isn’t limited to any particular trade, skill or ideology. Beyond mere vocational training, the Refugee Academy emphasizes the creation of community and the social construction of a new homeland.  They organize city tours and classes to help migrants understand more about Germany. In a sense, their work is really about designing new ways to think about migration – work that is desperately needed in our current geopolitical landscape.

Please listen to Eric Cesal’s interview with TeeKay Kreissig, one of the founders of Refugee Academy, on Social Design Insights.