A developmental humanitarian project of Vijay Govindarajan- a professor of International Business at the Tuck School of Business at Darthmouth along with a marketing consultant Christian Sarkar has gained tremendous amount of buzz on the internet. At first the idea was released at the Harvard Business Review Blog in January 2, 2011. The idea was to replace the unsafe, unreliable, and unhygienic cardboard and metal sheet houses in the parts of the world heavily stricken with poverty with a mass produced $300 dollar product. The in work design of the $300 house for the poor includes a mosquito net, built-in furniture, solar cooker, outlets to charge phone/tablet PC as well as sanitation solutions. Govindarajan and Sarkar initially simply wanted for the idea to be out in the air. However the massive response that it received from the online community has opted for them to turn it into reality. As you can see here, this innovative project is being developed through a very innovative strategy. $300 House has issued a series of challenges such as the “Financial Challenge” the “Design Challenge” and “Energy Challenge” to be taken on by various companies and individuals to help turn this project into reality. This seems to be an amazing solution that could drastically help about 50% of the worlds population. I am currently looking into how I can contribute and suggest that you fellow Saudirites do as well! Check out their website for more details.
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This looks like an amazing idea! Although, if they do manage to mass produce this, where would they find the land to accomodate them all? After all, land contributes to a large portion of the property price.
The fact is that houses build out of metal sheet scraps, and cardboard already stand today . So I suppose the impoverished inhabitants of those slams that already hold some sort of ownership over that land (or they pay rent).