community

A conversation between Jhono Bennett, co-founder and co-director of 1to1 – Agency of Engagement, a non-profit that provides a design-based collaboration between grassroots organisations, professionals, academia, and government, and Mukta Naik, a Fellow at CPR, who is an architect and an urban planner. Their conversation explores ideas of design-led practice and learning, practice-oriented design in South Africa, and parallels between the post-colonial contexts of India and South Africa.

The role of access to information in empowering the poor is well-acknowledged in India and reinforced by the experience of the Right to Information Act, 2005. However, information asymmetries continue to hamper the ability of the poor to make informed decisions about their future. A new online resource seeks to address this gap in the context of housing. The IHR team speaks to the founders about their motivations, challenges and aspirations for this platform.