What if the world's slums could be innovation incubators? | David Warner | TEDxBoston
One billion people worldwide live in slums with unreliable access to infrastructure and basic services. But these places are also hubs of creativity and innovation, where solutions to seemingly intractable problems can emerge. Kibera is one of Africa's largest slums, where residents face extreme poverty and environmental threats. An audacious project to bring water and build a community hub led to a incubation model that pairs local residents with academics and industry leaders to co-develop solutions. By working directly with communities to identify problems and opportunities, the collaboration develops equitable, stable solutions to infrastructure and climate resiliency for the residents. After 14 years of effort, the Human Needs Center has delivered a broad infrastructure of opportunity. A vibrant marketplace has been created based on community need, providing banking, water, sanitation, urban agriculture, education, job placement, energy lending, lighting streets, feeding 2,000 people per day, and fostering technology start-ups. The Kibera community now defines their future, and inspires valuable innovation beyond. David Warner is Co-Founder of the Human Needs Project and both the Co-founder and President of Redhorse Constructors, a premier custom builder based in the Bay Area. For the past four decades he has been working on new urban formations around sustainable and resilient infrastructure and construction systems, serving as an advisor to startups that are creating new materials and systems for this new urban design intent. The mission extends to the Human Needs Project, a collaboration of academic and industry leaders who are in partnership with local communities to address the lack of basic services common in underserved urban populations. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
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