Kigali, along with many other urban areas of Rwanda, is rapidly urbanizing, but not the same effort is put to develop the rural areas. 45% of Rwanda’s GDP is represented by agriculture, which employs 90% of the active working population, reason why this sector is considered crucial in all strategies for poverty reduction.
Climate change, deforestation, and poor agriculture practices are, in the other hand, negatively affecting environment, society, and economy. In the last decades around 48.000 people living in high risk zones (areas with >25% slope) have been affected by adverse climate events and more than 40.000 have already been relocated. To address the shelter shortage several entities have joined forces to promote the development of affordable housing, empowered by the Rwandan Government’s imidugudu program.
This research, carried out in a rural area highly damaged by landslides in 2016, where many families lost farmlands and houses, defines sustainable design methodologies to support the growth of rural villages in Rwanda and addresses issues related to climate change and land exploitation that are negatively affecting environment, society and economy.
Through the participatory approach and a studio based research methodology, that involved 35 selected families and 25 third year students from the University of Rwanda, School of Architecture, the investigators collected quantitative and qualitative data to generate design schemes that respond across all scales to the existing environment and the social behaviors of the community.
The study outcomes consist in strategies for rural imidugudu design and construction in high-risk zones that implement ecological systems and architecture strategies informed by sustainability, climate adaptation, and local heritage.