The Housing Issue in Global South Countries A methodological Approach to Define Innovative Housing Solutions and Policies in Informal Urban Settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa

Design-driven research from my point of view, also considering my research and therefore my field of application of the method, is seen as a helpful approach to plan for the future, especially in projects concerning complex environmental challenges. In fact, characteristic for study by design is generating know-how and understanding by studying the effects of actively and systematically varying both the design objects and their complex context. Therefore, research results are obtained by, and are consistent with, experience in practice that, as Sarr also points out in his essay Afrotopia (Sarr, 2018) in order to be sustainable, development must be rooted in the local culture. Methods of DDR, in my research approach, serve as a focal lens able to identify specific themes and practices, allowing me to explain their origins and effects in projects, in the design process and finally in its application. This then, as far as I can see, leads me to two results: firstly, this methodology make explicit ways of designing and thus making it possible to understand and improve the quality of projects. Secondly, and no less importantly, especially for my field of research and application of it, the DDr methodology will make it possible to relate a specific work to its community of practice and to relevant architectural theory and history.