New publication on Architecture and the SDGs
We have just published an extensive collection of architecture projects from all over the world that demonstrates how architects and architecture can contribute to each of the Sustainable Development Goals. The book can be downloaded for free. The examples illustrate that architecture can make significant contributions regardless of budget, location or resources available. Neither the challenges nor the possibilities of the built environment should be underestimated:
“We have to radically change the way we build. The built environment is a major consumer of energy and natural resources, and a producer of waste. Furthermore, how we build can exacerbate inequalities and affect health.With this book, we want to inspire architects and stakeholders to engage with both environmental and social challenges”, says Natalie Mossin, chief editor of the publication and Head of the Institute of Architecture and Technology at the Royal Danish Academy.
From political planning to grass-root level
The 80 projects selected by the editorial board vary from large-scale political planning projects to small-scale interventions on a grass-root level. All projects share a commitment to sustainable development and an ambition to achieve a significant impact in their respective local contexts.
The editors hope the guide will inspire students, architects, policy makers and other stakeholders to discuss how architecture can contribute to sustainable development by providing them with realized examples from around the world.
“Our publication demonstrates that the built environment, planning, architecture, landscape architecture and design interact with each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. And most crucially: not just on an aspirational level or as future potential but through realised buildings, settlements and cities all over the world. It is for each and every one of us to contribute to the realisation of the goals,” says Natalie Mossin.
To read more about the new guide and its predecessor, or download both for free, go to "The Guides".
Watch the webinar from the book launch: https://youtu.be/LeKaQOBYI2g
Sustainable Futures
- leave
no one
behind
Our goal is to promote, discuss, develop and showcase architecture as a crucial tool to achieving the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. We will share good solutions and ensure that the 17 Goals are inseparable and interlinked. We must start now, and we must include everyone. In this sense, the UIA World Congress of Architects in 2023 has already begun, and you are invited to join by sharing your best solutions.
The UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals define the challenges we need to address in order to achieve a sustainable future for all. The Goals provide reason for hope in addressing the global problems we face together – they acknowledge the complexity, they are interconnected and they apply to all. The Goals require us to come together at all levels and to leave no one behind.
For the first time, a UIA World Congress of Architects will be held in a Nordic country, and Copenhagen, Denmark, is honoured to host the Congress in 2023. Under the overarching title “Sustainable Futures – Leave No One Behind”, the UIA World Congress of Architects in Copenhagen in 2023 aims at making architecture a central tool in achieving the Goals and establishing global sustainability practices across all architectural disciplines by 2030.
Copenhagen ranks as one of the most liveable and loveable cities in the world and is aiming to keep this title. As host for the UIA World Congress, Copenhagen provides a unique combination of culture, tolerance, global connectivity, well-functioning public transport, green spaces and high-quality architecture.
How can
architecture
contribute to
the 17 UN Goals?
Architectural solutions are already here, everywhere, contributing to sustainable communities and quality of life. However, the built environment is also a part of the current challenges – a major consumer of energy and natural resources, and producer of waste.
Join our case collection
The ambition is to expand the case studies with more architectural cases from all over the world. We invite you to submit your realised project with a short description to join the case collection.
Science Mapping: Sustainable Architecture
Our science mappings assemble a both international and Danish overview of research within the field of sustainable architecture. Globally, the efforts for sustainable development vary greatly depending on site-specific differences like geographical location, climate, inequality and social relationships. It is important to look at all the diverse ways architecture can be used as a driver for achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals; these mappings work to inspire new ideas and collaborations, and to re-think what architecture can be.
These are the second versions of the mappings. They will be updated as we collect more information on people working within the field of sustainable architecture. Any questions should be directed to sciencetrack@uia2023cph.org
Congress
Jul2021
Jul2023
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