Last week, in the UN House of Brazil’s capital, Brasilia, our work was featured in a seminar discussing the sustainability and whole life performance of social housing in the country.
Representatives from our clients, Caixa Bank, Building Research Establishment (BRE), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), were joined by staff from Brazil’s Ministry of Cities, and the Federal University of Bahia, to discuss social housing policy policy in relation to Agenda 2030.
Agenda 2030 is the UNDP’s worldwide initiative to end poverty in just over a decade – while implementing 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGSs) into global governmental policy. “It’s not just having a home and the resources for it – it is necessary to think about the positive impact that a dwelling can bring to a region and to the life of the person. We have an obligation to take care of the environment,” said the Business Manager of Housing’s vice president, Luis Marcio Carvalho Andrade, at the event.
Progressive statements like this were in our thinking during the creation and delivery of the Caixa branded project, which involved a selection of sustainability standard documents, a short animation, and a post-occupancy evaluation. One of the most imperative aspects of the project was to encourage the participation of new homeowners in the conservation and development of their new communities. Naturally, this topic arose at the UNDP’s seminar:
“What we want most is self-management, involving the community. That way people will understand what impact they have on the neighbourhood and the business and what improvements are needed – and that is how we should work on sustainability.” said Julieta Tolentino de Abraão, a representative of the Brazilian social housing movement.
British building research organisation, BRE, sent engineer Ana Quintas – who we communicated with throughout the project – to the seminar. She said: “We developed, with CAIXA and the Ministry of Cities – with UNDP support – all the tools to support the integration of sustainability concepts in social housing projects, such as the quality and performance of the construction itself.”
“We also used a tool to be implemented in the construction phase of the buildings, creating a specific sustainability standard. And, finally, we developed a post-occupancy research methodology to verify that the specifications of the program are being met and how satisfied families are with housing units. ”
And it was in making these intelligent, life-changing tools accessible to their audience, that The Unknown Creative came in. We created a suite of original infographics, implementing the ethos of the UNDP’s 17 SDGs, and created the animation and materials ready to be delivered to 16 Million new homeowners and families.
Didier Trebucq, the UNDP country director, concluded the event by announcing: “today’s seminar is just one step in delivering the outcome of this partnership between UNDP, CAIXA, the Ministry of Cities and BRE. We believe that the results we have achieved so far will further improve our collaboration.”
And how we have enjoyed being part of it!