One billion people around the world live in slums, also known as informal settlements, that outpace the civic authorities’ ability to provide services. This number is projected to double by 2030, when the majority of the Earth’s population is expected to live in urban areas.

Design with the Other 90%: Cities is a series of exhibitions featuring 60 potential solutions to the complex issues surrounding the growth of informal settlements in developing economies. Its purpose is to tap into the ingenuity and expertise of professional designers, architects, engineers, city planners, and other professionals whose services have been hitherto limited to the wealthy 10% of the world’s population.

Many solutions focus on integrating the informal settlements with the formal city structure through such methods as cheap public transportation that connects the settlement with the rest of the city. Medellín, Colombia’s Integral Urban Project has put these improvements into place, along with libraries, business centers, public schools and medical centers, with very good results – the homicide rate has dropped by 93%, from 381 per 100,000 people in 2007 to just 26 in 2011.

Other areas of focus are maintaining city viability in the face of climate change and sustainable development. Many projects draw solutions from local cultures so that they are accepted enthusiastically by the people. The lives of settlement dwellers are improved through micro-economic businesses and savings practices that help them lift themselves out of extreme poverty.

Read more about it in Support Places Journal’s article “Design with the Other 90%: Cities” by Cynthia E. Smith.