Work we did thanks to the Humanitarian Innovation Fund showed that most of the technical evidence gathered by engineers and NGOs after disasters does not add up to answer some of the fundamental questions about shelter and housing processes: who builds, when and how; why people live and build in the places they do; how housing is financed normally; what common defects might make buildings fragile; and what really changes building practices given that this depends on building culture, markets, training and skills, taxation, styles/aspirations, livelihoods, location and regulation.
- What sort of information would support local decision-makers and households to accelerate their recovery?
- What sort of information would stimulate the funding of strategies that fit the context and respond to prior housing processes?
