KDI - Kounkuey Design Initiative

Kounkuey Design Initiative  is a non-profit design and community development organization, that partners with underserved communities in the US, Africa, and Latin America to physically transform communities and in the process, improve environmental, economic, and social quality of life. Begun in 2006, KDI is made up of architects, landscape architects, engineers, urban planners, and community organizers. KDI believes that participatory planning and design are key to sustainable development. By working collaboratively with communities from conception through implementation, we build on their ideas, enhance them with technical knowledge and design innovation, and connect them to extant resources. In doing so, KDI empowers communities to advocate for themselves and address the major physical, social, and economic challenges they face.

We often build what we call Productive Public Spaces (PPS).

Productive Public Spaces are:

1. Formerly unusable and sometimes unsafe areas that become active public spaces such as community meeting areas, vegetable gardens, and micro-enterprise and recreation spaces, along with basic infrastructure (e.g. sanitation, bridges, walkways).
2. Conceived, constructed and managed by the people who use them, in collaboration with local and international partners.
3. Income-generating, socially constructive, and sustainable.
4. Projects that would otherwise not be realized through traditional channels.
5. Targeted areas that employ strong design concepts to create beautiful places.
6. Catalysts by which communities improve the social, economic, and environmental lives of their residents.