Low-cost housing is an issue of huge social relevance in South Africa, and indeed globally. 50% of the world’s population reside in urban areas. The impact of this is particularly visible in the townships and urban sprawl of informal settlements around South African cities. The Design Indaba 10 x 10 Housing Project challenged 10 architectural teams to provide dynamic design solutions for the low cost housing sector (on a completely pro-bono basis), with the intention of creating 10 distinct designs that would change the perception that low-cost housing is outside the realms of design innovation and architectural significance. We paired ten hand-picked local architects with ten international alumni from previous Design Indaba conferences. The objective was to come up with affordable, innovative responses to the very pressing issue of low-income urban housing. Sustainable, energy-efficient design, construction and operation principles were to be incorporated. Experiences and outputs are to be compiled and ultimately presented to the Minister of Housing as an open source manual, a contribution to the public pool of knowledge available to all interested in the design or construction of low-cost housing. In this way, the 10 x 10 Housing Project’s aim is truly to “create a better future, by design”. Not only will some of Cape Town’s most impoverished families benefit directly, but the project seeks to stimulate a wider debate and creative thought around the delivery of low-income housing. Please visit www.designindaba.com/10x10 for more details.