The IUCI closely collaborates in projects with poor urban communities through participatory processes that privilege local knowledge, resources and capacities and empower community members as the drivers of change. 
In the development of said projects, the initiative seeks to maintain long-term relationships with the community, approaching community design at multiple scales through small scale interventions and adaptable planning. The ecologically intelligent strategies seek to improve quality of life without externalizing environmental burdens, and engage culturally contingent aesthetics to enhance the public realm.