This is the second workshop from a series of workshop on Sustainable Innovative Affordable Housing (SIAH) for Africa, funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering's Frontiers Champion Project. This workshop aims to determine the importance of design on sustainability and affordability of housing.

Good-quality design is far more critical, and far more complex than merely a matter of visual attractiveness. Housing design addresses the livability and adaptability of the house, its energy efficiency, how residents feel about their environment, how social cohesion and interaction are fostered within a development, and how a development enhances or detracts from the long-term sustainability and viability of the community.

However, Good-quality design is usually one of the first components cut from African affordable housing projects in the name of cost containment. The result is houses that meet minimal shelter requirements but fall far short of the sustainable, innovative and affordable usually associated with good-quality housing.

Therefore, it is essential to introduce the modern aspects of good-quality design to the African housing stakeholders. Such enhancement will support the idea of developing SIAH for Africa and consequently improving the quality of life of vulnerable communities.

The main objectives of this workshop are:

• Determine the essential aspect of housing design
• Identify the issues of common housing design
• Introduce the modern housing design approaches such as resilience, inclusive, sustainable, lifecycle assessment, circular economic and passive design

While the expected outcome of this workshop is:

• Enhance the knowledge of housing stakeholders, professional and policymakers on good-quality (sustainable, innovative and affordable) design