Co-designing resilient urban communities: The power of human capital in inclusive public engagement

This policy brief by GreenCape argues that building urban resilience in informal settlements requires a participatory co-design approach driven by facilitators with high emotional intelligence and specific core values. Using a case study of the Alternative Service Delivery Unit (ASDU) in Cape Town's Freedom Farm and Malawi Camp, the document demonstrates how a data-driven, four-step engagement process can lead to community-supported infrastructure, such as home-solar systems. It details the necessary human capital for project drivers, emphasizing trust, collaboration, and active facilitation as essential for overcoming systemic distrust and social vulnerability.

• Effective urban resilience depends on meaningful public engagement in civic decision-making, moving beyond superficial engagement to institutionalize resilience through participatory co-design.
• Asset-based community development fosters resilience by empowering underdeveloped or poor communities to identify and invest their own local resources, or 'assets', to create capital for local development.
• The success of participatory co-design is primarily determined by the 'project drivers'—the individuals managing the process—who must possess specific human capital, including education, professional skills, and core values.
• GreenCape's Alternative Service Delivery Unit (ASDU) implemented a four-step co-design process in the Freedom Farm and Malawi Camp informal settlements: community mapping/snowball engagements, direct leadership engagement, mobilisation and enumeration, and community-led co-design.
• In Freedom Farm and Malawi Camp, the co-design process led residents to prioritise home-level lighting and connectivity, resulting in the selection of a home-solar system funded by the landowner and maintained by a local company employing community members.
• Project drivers require five core values to successfully navigate complex community dynamics: trust, collaboration, resilience, hope, and diversity and inclusion.
• Essential learned skills for project drivers include active facilitation to encourage diverse stakeholders, active listening to grasp implicit meanings, interpersonal skills for conflict resolution, and creative thinking to adapt methodologies to the local context.

APA

GreenCape (n.d.). Co-designing resilient urban communities: The power of human capital in inclusive public engagement. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/CO-DESIGNING_RESILIENT_URBAN_COMMUNITIES_REPORT_2_7-3.pdf

Chicago

GreenCape. Co-designing resilient urban communities: The power of human capital in inclusive public engagement. n.d. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/CO-DESIGNING_RESILIENT_URBAN_COMMUNITIES_REPORT_2_7-3.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=GreenCape |title=Co-designing resilient urban communities: The power of human capital in inclusive public engagement |url=https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/CO-DESIGNING_RESILIENT_URBAN_COMMUNITIES_REPORT_2_7-3.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greencapendcodesigning, author = {{GreenCape}}, title = {{Co-designing resilient urban communities: The power of human capital in inclusive public engagement}}, institution = {GreenCape}, url = {https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/CO-DESIGNING_RESILIENT_URBAN_COMMUNITIES_REPORT_2_7-3.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }