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Friends + Colleagues
We're pleased (and relieved) to announce that KDI finally has a newsletter. For several years now, you've had to rely on our spotty email updates and the occasional photo blog to keep you in the loop -- no longer the case. Now, should you choose to stay on our list, four to six times a year you’ll receive a concise update on projects, opportunities, and upcoming events complete with visual aids. If you prefer a more continuous KDI connection, you are welcome to:
Join our facebook page: www.facebook.com/kounkuey
Follow our tweets: @kounkuey
If you’re more of the “don’t call us, we’ll call you” sort, you can always:
Subscribe to our blog: www.kiberapublicspace.blogspot.com
Visit our website: www.kounkuey.org
This month’s newsletter is brief – a test run to work out all of the kinks. In future issues we will take a step back and introduce you to all of the KDI crew and share with you our goals for the firm.
Finally, we’re new to this mass communication thing, so please send us any suggestions, comments, or complaints, you might have. We’re listening!
Love, KDI
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PROJECTS
Coachella At the beginning of 2011 KDI initiated our first project in the United States in the Eastern Coachella Valley of California. The Coachella Valley lies only a couple of hours outside of the Metropolitan region of Los Angeles and is one of the most fertile agricultural growing areas in the country. Yet, extreme income disparity and a lack of affordable housing have led to over 120 unpermitted Mobile Home Parks serving the low-income community as their only means of housing. The parks are in varying degrees of degradation, but all face poor access to sanitation, water, transportation, and electricity. Our pilot project is located at St. Anthony’s Trailer Park, home to about 100 families. In March 2011, after a number of visits to the area and meetings with community members and stakeholders, we began working with approximately 25 youth from St. Anthony’s to create a sustainable art garden that would serve as the first component of a larger "Productive Public Space" for the park. To date, the youth have created individual plots using reclaimed tires they painted and then planted with vegetables and fruit. They have also created a poster campaign to raise awareness and interest around the idea of community gardening. The campaign will be exhibited on April 9th, 2011, in Coachella at the 2011 Building Healthy Communities’ youth art festival, "The Hue", sponsored by The California Endowment.
Kibera
Site 1 The first Kibera Public Space Project continues to grow. The community group operating the site, New Nairobi Dam Community Group, continues to add new income-generating activities to the site. The latest businesses include a laundry washing service and a kiosk that sells basic supplies, food and beverage. At the request of the community, the shade pavilion is being retrofitted to accommodate a small school during the weekdays, which will generate rental income for the community group and address the shortage of quality elementary schools in that part of Kibera.
Site 2 Construction at Site 2 is nearing completion. Finishing work on the sanitation center will be complete by the end of the month. A 10,000 liter water tank was recently installed and is scheduled to be connected to Nairobi City Water within days. The Riverside Usafi Group (“RUG,” KDI’s partner community group for the project) has received permission to build vending kiosks on the site, and the design for those kiosks is being finalized. Plans to add a small park by the river are being discussed with the land owners, and will be constructed as soon as an agreement is reached. Several small-enterprises are also underway and will be detailed in our next newsletter.
Site 3 In the past month KDI has launched the Request for Proposal (RFP) process for Site 3. KDI staff and volunteers met with public officials, contacted community group leaders, and distributed flyers announcing the beginning of the process. KDI Principal Chelina Odbert then conducted a public informational meeting to explain how KDI operates, how the RFP process works, and what criteria KDI uses to select its projects. Representatives from KDI’s partner organizations for Site 1 and Site 2 attended and spoke firsthand about their experience with KDI and the positive effects of its projects in their communities. During and after the informational meeting, project proposal applications were distributed to dozens of community groups in Kibera. The proposal deadline has now passed, proposals have been reviewed and finalists have been identified. Prospective sites are now being assessed, along with their associated community groups. KDI will select the winning proposal by the end of April and hopes to begin construction at Site 3 in early June.
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NEWS
Ashoka Changemakers In March 2011, KDI was named among the top 11 finalists for the Ashoka Changemakers Competition “Sustainable Urban Housing: Collaborating for Livable and Inclusive Cities.” The competition is now open for public voting through TODAY. The top three entries win 10,000USD. Please take a moment to register and vote. Our entry, Kibera Public Space Project: sustainable housing through ‘productive public space’, as well as the others can be accessed HERE or www.changemakers.com/en-us/sustainableurbanhousing.
The competition is funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and is a joint effort of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Department of State, and the American Planning Association with support from the Brazilian Ministry of Cities.
Forbes KDI Principal Chelina Odbert has been asked to contribute to Megacities: Opportunities at Urban Edges at Forbes.com. Her first piece was published on March 28, 2011 HERE. Titled “Complexities at Urban Edges”, Chelina discusses the complex organisms that slums can be, using her experience in Kibera, Kenya as an example. Follow the discussion over the next three months as Chelina introduces you to life on the streets of Kibera.
ETH Zurich On March 14, 2011, KDI Principal Chelina Odbert presented a lecture at ETH University in Zurich titled “Navigating the Middle – Community-Driven, Government-Supported, Structure-Owner OPPOSED upgrading.” The talk was part of the "Urban Mutations on the Edge: Cooperate!" lecture series, which examines the impact of “formal and informal modes of social organization, of top-down and bottom-up practices, of global and local economies on urban production.”
Urbaninform Competition 2010 In December 2010, KDI won the First Prize in the Urbaninform Competition “The Architecture of Social Investment” for our entry Kibera Public Space Project 02. The competition looked for “design projects that reflect a new spirit of sustainable urban production.” Chelina Odbert and Joe Mulligan (of Buro Happold) accepted the award at the Center for Architecture in New York City.
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hanging out in the park at site 1 in kibera
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kiosk at site 1 in kibera
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site 2 in kibera before construction of the sanitation center
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sanitation center detailing at site 2 in kibera
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training to operate the sanitation center at site 2 in kibera
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an eggplant grown in the community garden
at site 1 in kibera
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UPCOMING
Haiti After wrapping up community workshops and analysis in the small village of Bonneau in northwest Haiti in the fall of 2010, KDI will return in May of this year to develop a scope of work for the pilot project. KDI will be working with SMAQ Architecture on our Haiti project.
University of Washington On April 8th KDI founders Chelina Odbert and Jennifer Toy will be at the University of Washington for the College of Built Environments' NEXT ECO-CITY: Emergent Urbanism symposium. They will participate in the "Emerging Cities" panel where they will discuss emerging theories and practices that address critical issues presented in urban environments.
New Website After more than four years, we are finally building a professional website. Look for it to come online by the end of the month! www.kounkuey.org
University of California, Berkeley KDI Principal Chelina Odbert has been invited by Kibera thesis advisor, Margaret Crawford, to speak about the founding of KDI and current work.
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potential site of a Productive Public Space in bonneau, haiti
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community workshop in bonneau, haiti
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community workshop in bonneau, haiti
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site of coachella pilot project
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painting tires for the art garden plots
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creating the art garden poster campaign
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community garden and office at site 1 in kibera
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ABOUT US
KDI began in 2006 as a discussion among six Harvard Design School students about the relevance of the design professional in areas negatively affected by poverty. Through our first project in Kibera, Kenya, we set out to understand the role we could play in improving quality of life for impoverished people living in degraded urban environments. KDI has grown over the years, largely because of the help of numerous local and international partners. Today the firm is an innovative partnership specializing in the practice of architecture, landscape architecture, engineering, and urban planning in areas where environmental degradation compromises quality of life. KDI's approach to sustainable development is rooted in a commitment to participatory planning and design.
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PARTICIPATE
Summer Internship Program KDI is looking for four undergraduate or graduate interns to spend 8 weeks in Nairobi, Kenya beginning in July. We are looking for two design interns, one intern in community development and a documentary filmmaker. Please send resume, cover letter and portfolio to kdi.harvard@gmail.com.
Volunteer in Coachella There are numerous opportunities for folks living in the Los Angeles and San Diego metropolitan regions to get involved in KDI’s work in the Coachella Valley. If you are interested in art, gardening, working with youth, or have a background in architecture, waste water management, construction, or alternative energy solutions we would love to have you volunteer with us. If you are interested please email kdi.harvard@gmail.com.
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