The winners of this year’s UN World Habitat Awards span the world and offer solutions that range from technical innovation to social activism. They come from the Netherlands, Indonesia, Switzerland, Chile, Germany, Kenya, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom

The gold winners are Energiesprong, of the Netherlands, which is reducing energy consumption in old buildings by 70-80% through retrofitting using innovative prefabricated panels and smart green technologies, and a project known as Housing Rights in Jakarta: Collective Action and Policy Advocacy, which is helping to protect the informal communities, known as ‘kampungs’, where thousands of low-income families live.