When we write and lecture, we tend to stress communication and technology transfer, but in designing and building, we spend 90 percent of our time on other issues. There is a lot beyond slums in our philosophy. We developed an "In Your Face" methodology because cities in the developing world are legitimately in a crisis.

In this lecture we will discuss Caracas, positioning the Global South as an ideal laboratory for architecture and urbanism research.  Then we will illustrate our architectural practice ―what we call “Arquitecto Buonero” or “street vendor architecture”, using specific examples from U-TT’s collective practice. Finally, we will show how we have taken the tools and tactics used in Caracas to other cities, applying lessons learned from the Global South to the North.  We want to emphasize the dematerialization of the total work of architecture and instead, compose buildings out of an interchangeable "kit of parts", a flexible, viable, and urban architecture that can function as a life support system for developing city cultures in perpetual change and in urgent need of available solutions.