The planet is being urbanized and, for the most part, that’s a positive trend (better access to health care and education, for starters). But developmental assistance is needed and consistently fails. Why? Because “development and aid agencies implement construction projects with technologies that are ‘known’ or easily available rather than exploring more appropriate materials or technologies,” says Architecture for Humanity co-founder Cameron Sinclair.
The solution, according to Sinclair—who won the TEDPrize in 2006—isn’t singular but rather massively plural: “not one solution but millions of solutions.”
And how better to distribute millions of solutions but through a Creative Commons-licensed, open source-driven, database called the Open Architecture Network. Users will be able to share and modify sustainable designs and, more importantly, implementations. WorldChanging‘s Alex Steffen calls it the “Wikipedia of humanitarian design, the first big step towards open source design.”
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