BRIAN EDWARDS
ALBERT DUBLER
“Yes, because we architects were the first to talk about holistic approaches to s ustainability, and the Millennium Goals are part of what I consider a holistic approach. Quite often, architects are the only ones who can bring people and communities together.” Do you consider the millennium goals an issue that the architectural profession should be more engaged in?
Yes, because we architects were the first to talk about holistic approaches to sustainability, and the Millennium Goals are part of what I consider a holistic approach. Quite often, architects are the only ones who can bring people and communities together.
As a conductor if you like.
Yes, as facilitator or conductor. To give you an example, I recently stayed in Rio de Janeiro for nine days, visiting a project in a favela called the Morro da Babilônia. Like all favelas, it was built without any plan and without property rights on an extremely steep site, which is very difficult to build on. Some people were living there inside a forest, which the city administration wanted to protect. It took the stakeholders of the project some time, but collaborating with the city and the local community, they managed to convince everybody that those living in the forest should be relocated to newly-built homes that were financed by the government. I think this is a very good result because the decision was collective and it was an inclusive decision that was made by architects collaborating with the municipality and locals.
Yes, I think this shows the interconnectedness of so many decisions. When we design cities we also have to think about eco-systems and protecting delicate areas like the rain forests. There is a whole lot of connective tissue; as architects, we often just see the building and the materials but we don’t think about the full chain of material resources and disposal. So, ultimately, what do you think are the triggers for change in cities?
One of the positive outcomes of this year’s Rio + 20 conference was that, for the first time, it stated that civil society is important in all the processes.
The first time?
It had not been said before. This can lead our profession to say, “We are proud of our part of the process, let’s be the leaders.” Or, at least we ought to say, “It’s not the government alone who has to provide regulations and similar things, it’s everybody’s job to assist in the process.” I experienced this when I was invited to Manila in 2010 to be part of a competition jury. The theme of the competition was to design “against the elements”, and we changed it to “design with the elements”. 40% of the urban population in Manila live in so-called ‘informal settlements’. The physical thing you see in those informal settlements is that they don’t have windows; they have no daylight. 97