Alejandro Aravena: design for social change

Many delegates to the recent Design Indaba conference in Cape Town have told me how impressed they were with the presentation by Alejandro Aravena, a Chilean architect, on the design and financing of affordable housing. I unfortunately missed the presentation, but here are two views worth reading: one by Bruce Nussbaum (who I had the pleasure of hosting at a breakfast during the Design Indaba) and one by Wren. From what they and others are saying, there’s lots we can learn from Aravena about socially useful design as we put together Cape Town’s bid for World Design Capital 2014.