ISUH’s flagship health equity program, the Accelerating City Equity (ACE) Project aims to mainstream equity into sustainable urban development policy and practice by accelerating the implementation of practices found to be most catalytic in cities.

Through the Active-Learning Resource Center the project lives on through storytelling and the exchange of knowledge and practical experience among a global community of practice. The ACE Project resources identify how equity—improving the health and well-being of all residents, not just a few—can drive sustainable development in cities worldwide.

Part of ICUH’s Healthy Housing Portfolio

A simple intervention, replacement of dirt floors with concrete, can drastically improve the health and lives of household residents. The project centers on construction of a cost-effective, low-tech, easily cleaned concrete flooring intervention and education campaigns informing beneficiaries and the community on best sanitation and hygiene practices. As a result, household members report improved health (reduced diarrhea, respiratory illness, and skin conditions) and well-being, reduced spending on healthcare and lost days of productivity, and significantly decreased time spent on cleaning and maintaining dirt floors.

Through 5 phases of this project 356 houses have had their floors replaced. In the two most recent phases have included a component of skills building for women, where they are trained in masonry assistant skills and gain practical experience as part of the construction team building concrete floors.

A part of ICUH’s Healthy Housing Portfolio

By engaging and mobilizing local residents with a community-driven approach, a sustainable control of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes can successfully reduce the burden of dengue by removing the potential larval breeding sites and trapping egg-laying females.

This multi-disciplinary project narrows the community-researcher gap to bring evidence-based solutions and community knowledge together to achieve sustainable, community-led efforts to clean and maintain community spaces that otherwise present a health risk as potential mosquito breeding sources.

In 2023, Architecture for Health In Vulnerable Environments (ARCHIVE) Global became ISUH’s Healthy Housing program portfolio.

ARCHIVE’s work is aimed at improving health outcomes for at-risk and vulnerable communities around the world. Each project focuses on a built environment intervention targeted at a specific health concern and encompasses components of research, design, and advocacy. Communities of need exist in high, middle, and low-income countries, and our projects reflect that. We believe that health starts in the home, and in turn radiates out from there into its community.