The UIA is present and active at the 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) taking place in Dubai on 30 November to 12 December 2023. Its delegation is led by UIA Past President Gaetan Siew as well as Co-Directors of the Sustainable Development Commission (UN 17 SDGs Task Force) Cid Blanco and Iman Gawad.
This year, the UIA has invited architects from around the world to discuss the architect’s role in global transformative climate action. Click on each video below to see their remarks.
Regina Gonthier
President
International Union of Architects (UIA)
On its 75th anniversary this year, the UIA invites the governments and planning authorities of all countries to address the urgent issue of urbanisation with measures encouraging politicians and clients to cooperate with architects and progressive legislation allowing innovative solutions.
Andrés Jaque
Architect
Dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
The response from architects needs to come from a cooperative and collective paradigm. And I think that’s why the UIA is so important at this moment and has a huge capacity to play a role in bringing all of us together in solidarity rather than competence.
Bruno Stagno
Architect
Bruno Stagno Arquitecto y Asociados
Recognising the urgent challenges posed by rapid urbanisation, we proposed the Construction Standard RESET, which was endorsed by the UIA. By incorporating RESET into architectural practices, we aim to create environmentally conscious and culturally sensitive spaces harmonising with the tropical context.
Christian Benimana
Architect
MASS Design Group
We are not architects to simply design buildings but also have to play a role in protecting the planet as well. Architects that seek to improve the communities in which we live and awaken the links that bind us inextricably to one another in what Martin Luther King called the inescapable network of mutuality.
Ken Yeang
Architect
T.R. Hamzah & Yeang
Building construction operations and the functions within buildings are responsible for about 80% of the current environmental crisis. Our designing and building must be now in an ecologically responsible way to care for the health of the planet.
Nikos Fintikakis
Architect
Professor – International Academy of Architecture
Architecture is the sum total of man’s responses to the challenges of the environment wrote the great philosopher Aristotle. The philosophy of architecture aims fundamentally at creation and at the same time the protection of the built and natural environment.