Jessica Leber ~ See The Homeless Housing You Might Mistake For Luxury Condos

2010 Brook – Gorlin Architects

Housing for the homeless is not usually a place associated with sleek design. But the photos you see here all indicate otherwise.

The buildings are all run by Common Ground, a nonprofit that does the difficult work of trying to get the chronically homeless off of the New York City streets and into permanent homes. Since Common Ground opened its first 652-unit supportive housing residence in Times Square in 1991, it has been unique in its embrace of design and architecture as important elements of its work, right next to the services it provides.

“The message that we want to get across to people that have been dismissed and really have been isolated from society for years at a time is: ‘you matter’ and ‘you’re valued’ and ‘you should take pride in yourself,” says Common Ground CEO Brenda Rosen. “To that end, having a physical environment that you feel proud of goes a long way.”

Read more: http://www.fastcoexist.com/mistake-for-luxury-condos

Progress In Peru – The Story Of Lima’s Slums

This is the story of Peru’s slums and the people who live there.
Peru’s capital Lima has expanded rapidly. In the 1950s, the city had around 1 million residents. Today, nearly 10 million people call the city home.
The city has continued to grow outwards through the expansion of slum settlements. While those located in flatter areas have seen real improvements in their living conditions, slums in steeper areas are still lacking basic services.

This film tells the story of the people who have settled in the city’s slums and the progress they have made in improving their lives, up on the steep, dusty outskirts of Lima.
Produced for the Development Progress project and directed by Tim Webster.

Marky Ramone Go ~ 25 Urban And City Photographers You Should Follow On Instagram

© Cocu (Chen) Liu

In the last couple of years, we have seen an uptick in the urban and city photography movement as seen in the Instagram platform. One would instantly recall Brandon Stanton‘s Humans of New York series as one of the definitive examples of portraying our city landscape through its people. Today, more photographers are dishing out diverse methods of photographing urban areas and big city scenes through portraiture, architecture, culture and just about every event that can occur in our daily lives. These 25 Urban and City Photographers are just some of the many skilled shooters whose keen eye for detail have made their Instagram wall filled with outstading and penetrating imagery – enough for us to learn more about the many cities of the world, through their photographs. From the streets of New York, Hong Kong, Paris, Havana to Mumbai and the rest of the world, they walk the streets with camera in hand and a never-ceasing wonder as they witness and document the bountiful beautiful scenes of urban and city life.

Read & See: http://resourcemagonline.com/photographers

BBC ~ Kenya Slum Mathare Gets Cheap Water Through ATMs

After inserting the smart card the user types in how much water they want to buy
Photo: BBC

Residents of the Mathare slum area of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, are now able to access water through an ATM-style dispenser.
People living in slums traditionally rely on vendors, who are expensive, or polluted sources to get drinking water.
But the new system, where people use a smart card, is designed to provide cheaper and cleaner water.
The water company is opening four of these dispensers in Nairobi and there are hopes the scheme will be expanded.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa

Moladi ~ Cube Museum ~ Design For A Better World | Innovations For People

Moladi invited to exhibit at the New “C-City” museum – Netherlands.

“Due to the success we have had with the two ‘Africa is Now’ exhibitions, Design Indaba was approached to curate a segment on African design for a new exhibition taking place later this year at a new design museum called Cube , in Kerkrade in the Netherlands. The exhibition will showcase Design for a better world | Innovations for people. The objective of the exhibition is to raise an awareness of design and to pass on its significance. They aim to do this by gathering unique examples of the most relevant innovations worldwide from contributing museums such as the Cooper Hewitt in New York, Design Museum Taiwan, Powerhouse Australia, Mind Museum Manila, Design Museum London and of course, Design Indaba.”

“We wish to congratulate moladi for being selected to this prestigious exhibition!” – Design Indaba

 Cube Museum Catalogue and display copy – Link

Read more: http://www.designindaba.com/articles/creative-work/pour-house

FUTURE LAGOS | Olamide Udoma ~ Interview: Working In Lagos. Making Lagos Work. (Part 1)

Photo: simple.wikipedia.org

Olamide Udoma: What is DASUDA?

Robert van Kats: DASUDA stands for Dutch Alliance for Sustainable Urban Development in Africa. What we do is set up partnerships that find local solutions for large urban development issues via understanding and collaboration. Trying to not just discuss but also act. We work on implementing urban development solutions within things like housing, water, mobility – the big topics.

OU: Why are you in Lagos this week?

RvK: We are in Lagos preparing for a case study programme which will take place later this year in June, July or September, for two weeks. Within these two weeks a small group of local partners will work on a case study. We are yet to decide where specifically the case study will be in Lagos, but we are working on it and hopefully towards the end of the year we’ll slowly get into implementing the ideas that come from the design group. Implementation will start with a small project and be built on brick by brick. So that is why we are here – learning from Lagos but also sharing thoughts, knowledge and ideas towards an urban case study.

Read more: http://futurecapetown.comfuture-lagos-interview