Scope and Approach

1. What We Do

We support people to improve lives and promote human vitality through design. We inspire designers, humanitarian and development practitioners, activists, community leaders and anyone else looking to address social problems, especially in places where design has been traditionally unavailable or inaccessible. We provide support through:

● Housing and Settlement Design- Solutions across emergency, transitional, and long-term conditions.
● Context-driven and durable solutions- across emergency, transitional, and long-term conditions.
● Disaster and Climate Response-Addressing environmental risk, displacement, and recovery.
● Design strategies addressing environmental risk, displacement, and recovery.
● Community-Led Planning and Advocacy-Working with inhabitants as active participants in shaping space.
● Participatory processes that position inhabitants as co-producers of space.
● Applied Research- Bridging academic knowledge, policy frameworks, and on-ground implementation.

2. Areas of Work

We focus on communities experiencing:

Disaster and post-disaster conditions
Climate vulnerability and environmental change
Poverty, exclusion, and marginalization
Conflict
Displacement

Our work spans:

Shelter and housing
Settlement upgrading
Camp–city transitions
Social Infrastructure development
Community infrastructure and public space

3. Our Approach

DESIGN. RESEARCH. CONNECT. TRANSFORM.

Our work begins with careful understanding of context and availability of local resources.

We recognize that every place is shaped by:

social and cultural practices
land and governance systems
environmental conditions and risks
economic constraints and informal systems

This understanding informs how we design, plan, and engage.

Our approach is grounded in:

Housing as a human right
Participation as a collaborative process
Action research as practice-based inquiry that links knowledge to implementation
Design as a long-term commitment
Ecological and social systems as interdependent

4. Partners and Collaboration

IAD works at the intersection of architecture, development, and humanitarian practice, collaborating with:

NGOs and civil society organisations
International development agencies
Academic and research institutions
Local communities and practitioners

We position ourselves not as external consultants, but as long-term partners in spatial Transformation.