Urban-Think Tank on a curriculum for a new urban planet

Interdisciplinary design practice Urban-Think Tank is dedicated to high-level research and design in contemporary architecture and urbanism. At Design Indaba Conference, founder Alfredo Brillembourg speaks about a curriculum for a new urban planet.

Architecture is coming to terms with the realisation that we have largely ignored how the majority of human beings live – Alfredo Brillembourg

Brillembourg discusses his work in informal settlements from Caracas to São Paulo. He redirects the traditional thinking of architecture towards using skills to improve informal settlements for social benefit, rather than focussing on the affluent. One of his significant projects involved retro-fitting a hill with cable car stations, to allow people living far away from the city easy access to it.

Pregnant women, children, old people, who it took two hours to get down the hill now can go down in ten minutes.