Lucinda Hartley has always enjoyed building things. When she was five, her mother was concerned that her daughter wasn’t reading enough and consulted her primary school teacher, who asked what young Lucinda most liked doing. “Oh, she’s too busy making things,” her mother replied.

Hartley’s inventive skills continued through her school years and led her into studying architecture and design, and in 2010 she founded Community Oriented Design (COD).

“One of the amazing things you are able to do as a designer is imagine the future,” says Hartley. For her that’s where design has a radical and important social impact.

COD is non-profit and exists essentially to empower impoverished communities to create simple, effective solutions that can change lives.

“It’s about connecting innovative design thinking and making it appropriate for community development,” says Hartley. “We work with disadvantaged communities in Australia and Asia-Pacific to co-create solutions for built projects including master-plans, housing, schools, playgrounds, public spaces and more.”

As a child, Hartley moved around a lot with her academic parents, who were working in some of the world’s poorest locations. She had early exposure to what extreme poverty looks like. But the turning point for her came when she was teaching English in Cambodia after her first year at university. One of her students was a young woman the same age, living in a slum in Phnom Penh. “I remember thinking she’s got so much drive. If she’s able to make so much of her life despite her circumstances, then what am I going to do with my own life?”

The idea for COD began to take root when Hartley was researching slum upgrading in Vietnam and Cambodia through an Asialink Dunlop Fellowship from Melbourne University.

Last year, Hartley and fellow volunteers worked with communities from Bangalore, India, West Papua and beyond. “A lot of the groups who come to us have never had access to, or worked with architects before. But we enable them to employ more cost-effective, more sustainable projects and we engage people in the process so it has a social benefit,” says Hartley.

The company has also created design modules that can be accessed online and have plans to train fellow professionals. “Understanding how you empower people and knowing about international community development is not something all design professionals can do. Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel each time, we provide tools to bridge the gap.”

It is estimated that, by 2050, half the world’s population will be living in cities and, of those, 25 per cent will be slum dwellers. It seems clear that designers who share Lucinda Hartley’s vision will be more in demand than ever.

Selected as a Fellow of the International Youth Foundation in 2010-11, Hartley, 29, believes Australia is well placed to make social change a reality in the region. “We have a lot of resources and knowledge, but we’re also well travelled and have good relations with neighbouring nations,” she points out. “Australia is a good hub.”