In 1986, the International Union of Architects established World Architecture Day with the aim of drawing the attention of professionals and the public to issues concerning cities and housing. The theme chosen for 2019 is ‘Architecture… housing for all’.
More than one billion of the 7.5 billion human beings on our planet live in places they built for themselves, using whatever materials they could scavenge on whatever land they could claim, often tenuously. Millions lack permanent shelter altogether, including refugees and those displaced by conflict and calamity.
Today, architects around the world will be considering how design has an essential role in alleviating human suffering, reducing planetary burdens and enhancing the quality of life for everyone. In a statement to fellow architects, Thomas Vonier, president of the International Union of Architects, has exhorted the profession to turn its “creative and political energies to providing decent housing for all.
“Let the 3.2 million architects across the globe help in efforts to reverse unbridled urbanisation, finding ways to maintain viability in villages, small towns and medium-sized cities. Let us lead in finding new ways to make all cities safer and more equitable.”
He goes on to state that “we can fight the rise in housing costs through innovative policies, new design solutions and an unwavering quest for social and economic balance. We can achieve equitable development and share in the responsibility to lodge all people, especially those who are least fortunate.”
These statements all strike home. They are not just lofty phrases that mean nothing on the local level because many of our citizens are facing these challenges on a daily basis. Rising property prices, widening property price to income gaps and high rental rates are making it more and more difficult for certain segments of society to have access to decent housing.
In its recently-published proposals for the 2020 national Budget, the Church Commission for Justice and Peace highlighted a number of concerns related to housing, particularly the issue of affordability and homelessness.
More and more difficult for certain segments of society to have access to decent housing
It stated that “the lack of affordability of either owning or renting property has led to a sudden surge in the rate of homelessness. Parallel issues have consequently emerged, such as the lack of budgeting skills, mental illnesses, dysfunctional relationships, debts, substance abuse and/or previous imprisonment leading to people not being able to secure a place to stay.”
Architects and engineers can offer solutions. This is not just a cliché but a fact. As Vonier states, “it is not just a tagline; it is a duty, a demand and a commitment”.
The Kamra tal-Periti has taken this call seriously and it is with deep satisfaction that, this evening, we will be announcing the results of the first design competition organised by the Kamra.
We are grateful to both the Parliamentary Secretariat for Social Accommodation and to the Housing Authority who believed in our vision that projects financed through public funds should attract the best quality design and that design competitions are the ideal way to ensure this.
The competition focused on two renovation projects to convert existing dilapidated properties into accommodation targeted for vulnerable groups.
One of these projects will provide supportive housing and therapeutic services to prisoners and their families with an aim to create a homely, domestic and child-friendly environment that supports integration and which emulates real life scenarios.
The second project will offer support to homeless mothers with mental health problems and also to their children through an integrative approach towards housing and service provision, which will enable them to achieve independent living.
Ensuring affordable and decent housing is part of the New Urban Agenda as well as Goal Number 11 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals “to make cities and human settlements safe, inclusive, resilient and sustainable”.
We cannot afford to allow the theme of World Architecture Day to be forgotten tomorrow. We must put our heads together to seek short- and long-term solutions to the challenges we are facing and this is a call which is not limited to our profession only.
Indeed, it is my firm belief that all professions have a role to play in ensuring that these goals are attained and it is only through the concerted action of all players that this will become a reality.
Simone Vella Lenicker is the president of Kamra tal-Periti.