How can we serve 2.5 billion people without access to centralized infrastructure for basic services?

By 2050, more than 2.5 billion people are expected to live in informal settlements — communities often built on the margins of cities, beyond the reach of conventional infrastructure. These neighborhoods typically lack reliable access to clean water, sanitation, electricity, and public services. In many cases, it is highly unlikely that conventional infrastructure will ever reach these communities.

Distributed, Lightweight Infrastructure

The Usinas da Paz (Factories of Peace) in Brazil are highly effective community centers located in poor communities.  They provide vital social services such as education, health clinics, community kitchens, digital access, and childcare. 

Partnering with Usinas da Paz in Belem, Brazil, the City Science Center is extending this vision to integrate decentralized systems for clean energy, water purification, sanitation, food production, and waste processing, using advanced and emerging technology that can be affordable and accessible with economies of scale. 

These new infrastructure and service hubs are conceived for rapid deployment, community co-management, and local adaptation that can function as self-sufficient nodes of resilience, improving quality of life and environmental performance from the ground up.

Why It Matters

Providing more comprehensive basic services empowers communities, strengthens public health, reduces displacement pressures, and expands opportunity where it's needed most. This model offers a scalable strategy for advancing equity, sustainability, and dignity in the world’s fastest-growing urban frontiers.