Our mission

Around the world, and especially in the developing world, people desperately need safer, smarter, more sustainable dwellings. Not just green housing but better housing…
and it has to be affordable.

Anyone who has spent time in developing countries knows that contemporary housing in many of those countries is – in large part – unsuitable. Unsuitable for the climate, for one. In many places, traditional construction long ago gave way to blocky cement structures that heat up unbearably in the many hot months. They leak terribly during the rainy seasons. In earthquake-prone areas, homes are built of brittle materials that won’t withstand a jolt. And housing is often built without a thought to energy and water conservation. This isn’t only about housing for the poor. In some countries, even middle-class and wealthy citizens must contend with housing that could be much safer and much better.

Bringing innovators together

The answers already exist. The technologies are already out there. Experts and activists around the world are working on solutions right now: Innovative materials, afforable solutions, creative ideas for improving people’s lives through better housing. Not just architects, but structural, electrical and hydrologic engineers, designers, contractors, glaziers, roofers, potters, community activists, environmentalists, students, scientists, tinkerers and others who care.

Our goal is to bring these experts, innovators, activists, leaders and future leaders together in dialogue to foster even more innovation and integration of their ideas. It’s about cross-pollination. Brainstorming. Conversations. Hopefully we’ll have our first global gathering of Housing Revolutionaries in early-to-mid-2012.

Housing Revolution – The Show

Meanwhile, we want at least some of those conversations to take place in public – in the form of a radio series (and podcast) – to help educate and inspire the rest of us and bring in even more voices and ideas. We plan to launch the show in the third quarter of 2011 and distribute it through the Public Radio Exchange (PRX). We welcome inquiries from sponsors and editorial contributors as well as interview/story suggestions.

Peter Aronson, Founder

Peter is a multiple-award-winning journalist from the United States who has been living in India since 2006. He has reported for NPR, Marketplace and the Voice of America, and he worked as a news editor and producer for MSNBC.com. He has also had experience in the business world, having worked as a vice president in India for a multinational corporation catering to Fortune 500 clients. In that position, he had the opportunity to spend time working in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad. It’s his firsthand experience in the big cities and small towns of India, as well as the years he spent living in Mexico, that have led him to agitate for a revolution in the way housing for the developing world is conceived and built. Read Peter Aronson’s full bio at peteraronson.com.

Yésica del Moral, Designer

Yésica designed the Housing Revolution logo and is partially responsible for making this site look as nice as it does. She is a graphic designer who earned a Masters Degree in Visual Arts with highest honors from the San Carlos Academy of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) in 2001. Her main area of focus was graphic design and visual communication. She is pursuing a doctoral degree, does freelance graphic design and also writes articles en español every month for Think Spanish magazine. (If you like our logo, she can design a great logo for you, too, at a very reasonable price! Contact Yésica.) Read Yésica’s full bio at yesicadelmoral.com. She also sells some of her one-of-a-kind, India-influenced creations in her online store.

Kim Green, Producer — Housing Revolution podcast

Kim Green is an award-winning public radio reporter. She speaks fluent Russian and is the editor and translator of Red Sky, Black Death: A Soviet Woman Pilot’s Memoir of the Eastern Front. Kim is also a pilot herself and a certified flight instructor (twin-engine). She occasionally writes for Her Nashville. In her spare time, she gardens, blogs about gardening, and helps her husband (a private investigator) with the occasional case. You can read Kim Green’s full bio here.