Brighter Futures: 7 Purpose-Filled Projects for Justice and Equality
CategoriesArchitecture

Brighter Futures: 7 Purpose-Filled Projects for Justice and Equality

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What is the purpose of architecture? On a base level, the profession is about conceiving and creating spaces where life can exist. But the question becomes much more complex when considering the stark difference between surviving and thriving.

This collection is inspired by the latter — designs based on ideas like freedom, access, equality, education and humanitarianism. Words that individually can mean different things but have strong, unbreakable ties to one another. In some cases, they cannot exist in isolation: education, for example, opens access to many freedoms, and without freedom, education does not function properly.

The following projects are varied and range from small schools already filled with students to huge conceptual blueprints aimed at rethinking how entire areas are used for the good of everything living there. But what they all share is a clear intention to make the world a better and fairer place.


Council 8 District Navigation Center

By: John Friedman Alice Kimm Architects (JFAK), Los Angeles, USA

Buildings with Social Impact

According to figures published by the Los Angeles Homeless Services in 2022, LA County has the largest homeless population in the US — with almost 70,000 people in urgent need of housing. Completed in 2021, the Council 8 District Navigation Center was designed to offer assistance and some degree of security for those living on the streets of the city’s southwestern neighborhoods.

A modular design, the two-story structure is a resource that helps users ‘navigate’ their existing lives. Services include storage for personal items, alleviating fears of valuables such as ID cards being stolen, showers, sinks, toilets and laundry facilities, with specific areas delineated by color to emphasize their specific purpose.


São Francisco Library

By: SPOL Architects, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Buildings with Social Impact Libraries are one of the few remaining spaces we can spend time in without the obligation to spend money. SPOL Architects’ concept for a new São Francisco Library in São Paulo is a prime example of how these institutions need to be adapted to continue playing such a vital role. The focal point of Brazilian democracy and justice, the existing facility has gradually expanded into an untenable, confusing and unwelcoming muddle.

A rethink is needed, so the firm has done just that. Focused on a central void, which cuts the building down the middle, this proposal sees nine individual subject libraries separated by that emptiness, but also connected through it. This offers maximum natural light and ventilation, provides optimum working conditions, and makes the huge facility easy to get around. Inviting the city into the structure, the design democratizes access to documents, texts, and therefore, in theory, justice itself.


Ecole Primaire Santiguyah

By: PBSA / University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf + RWTH Aachen Univeristy + ISAU Conakry, Santiguah, Guinea

Buildings with Social Impact

In Guinea, there is an urgent need for investment in education, with more than half the population illiterate, and rural areas defined by subsistence farming of staple foods and almost non-existent healthcare. Ecole Primaire Santiguyah is a school project founded by the Guinean Ministry of Education and German-owned development bank KfW, based on previous projects the latter has been involved in across West Africa.

Here, though, adaptations and improvements have been made, including passive ventilation and a thermal double roof, addressing the climactic and interior problems past designs threw up — such as the need to quickly cool a room that has been baking in the tropical heat for hours. The campus has two buildings, housing six classrooms — room for 250 children from eight villages — two basic toilets with water points, a staff area, vegetable garden (fertilised by the bathrooms) and sports field. Local materials dominate, with dry-stacked and interlocked methods achieving a 70% reduction in mortar use.


Greenwood Rising

By: Local Projects, Tulsa, USA

Buildings with Social Impact In 1921, a white mob destroyed the historic Tulsa district of Black Wall Street, killing and injuring thousands in an act of racially-motivated violence. Finished 100 years later, Greenwood Rising is a 10,000 square foot exhibition center honoring the memory of the victims, and challenging visitors to consider ideas around oppression, resilience, equality and justice through four adjoining areas.

An immersive experience shows life before the massacre, and presents the socio-economic makeup of that time. The structures that directly contributed to the horrific event are explored next, before we walk through an 80 year period in which the famously entrepreneurial community rebuilt, expanded, and rehabilitated itself. Finally, visitor interaction is brought to the fore as we are asked to discuss the institution, and thoughts on overcoming anti-Blackness. When looking for buildings with social impact, there are few more fitting examples.


Gulmeshwori Basic School

By: MESH Architectures, Kavrepalanchok District, Nepal

Commissioned by the NGO Kids of Kathmandu, MESH used a sustainable approach to construction for this school building located on the hills outside the Nepalese city. Relatively simple in design — just three classrooms, one computer room, and a library — nevertheless it shows how much can be delivered with limited resources, a very tight budget and scarcity of materials.

Coming in at well under $500,000, the school has been erected using the ‘rammed earth’ technique, which gives results comparable to reinforced concrete but with natural materials. Significantly lowering the footprint, that approach provides thermal mass for temperature regulation and fire resistance, ensuring this cheap and easily replicable building is comfortable, safe, and fit or purpose.


Parque Ecológico Lago de Texcoco

By: Iñaki Echeverría Arquitectura, Texcoco Lake, Mexico

Mexico’s Texcoco Lake basin is dominated by Mexico City, and the mega-metropolis has had a stark impact on the area. Extensive draining has wreaked havoc, leading to frequent water shortages, subsidence, loss of habitat and species decline. Parque Ecológico Lago de Texcoco looks to reclaim 35,000 acres of marshland to form the world’s largest urban park in a bid to reverse some of that damage.

Vast open areas, over 70 miles of cycle paths, a mind-boggling array of sports equipment, extensive water habitats, and an on-site research facility for environmental education are all included in the masterplan. The hope is to create 11,000 jobs in the process, reduce pollution, reintroduce nature and improve social justice for those living nearby, with the local population considered to be among the country’s most economically disadvantaged.


GHETTO: Sanctuary for Sale

By: Henriquez Partners Architects, Venice, Italy

Buildings with Social Impact GHETTO is a theoretical project addressing Venice’s biggest problem: tourism. Wresting economic control from visitors, and handing it to the city’s largely overlooked refugee community, Henriquez Partners’ design was developed with the UNHCR and ECC, and is highly controversial. Simply put, it involves building eco homes for 1,000 people fleeing war and persecution with money from the sale of timeshares owned by wealthy foreigners.

Based on four islands, each with view of an iconic Venetian landmark, the locations purposefully spotlight some of the most influential factors in the town’s social makeup, such as the Jewish Ghetto and over-tourism. Meanwhile, the overall concept asks us to consider use and ownership in places where there is exceptional pressure on space. In principal, it could be applied to almost any other urban centre.

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Innovation and SDG 16: Peace, justice, and strong institutions
CategoriesSustainable News

Innovation and SDG 16: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

John Lennon famously called for the world to give peace a chance. But, in 2022, is that chance being given? It is hard to argue that it is. The world today is witnessing the largest number of violent conflicts since 1946, with a quarter of the world’s population living in conflict-affected countries. This has been underlined perhaps most starkly by widespread coverage of the first major European conflict since the second world war: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But wars are raging across the globe, with ongoing major conflicts (defined as those that have caused more than 10,000 deaths in the past year) in Yemen, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Mexico, and East Africa – in addition to Ukraine.

Elsewhere, progress is more evident. For example, the global homicide rate fell 5.2 per cent between 2015 and 2020. Despite this, many people around the world remain at risk of violence, with women particularly vulnerable. 

And there remains work to be done in other areas covered by SDG 16, which calls for peace, justice, and strong institutions. Corruption continues to exist in every region on earth, costing developing countries $1.26 trillion each year. Access to legal representation is also far from universal, with a majority of the world’s population unable to gain meaningful access to justice. 

In the face of these entrenched problems, it can sometimes be difficult to see how innovation can make a difference. But innovators across the globe are supporting the necessary institutional changes with solutions that improve transparency, security, and collaboration.

Ending violence

According to the World Economic Forum, the total cost of conflict and violence is more than $14 trillion per year. This includes violence within societies that are at peace, as well as those that are engaged in armed conflict. Women, in particular, are at risk, with almost one in three women suffering physical or sexual violence at least once in their life. In response, innovators are coming up with new ways to prevent and report crime. In the UK, a platform is making it easier to report sexual harassment on London’s public transport network. Meanwhile, a Danish startup has developed connected jewellery that sends an alert to all nearby users of the company’s app if the wearer feels unsafe.

Combatting corruption and money laundering

One of the most effective ways to combat issues like child trafficking, modern slavery, and terrorism is to cut off the financing of these activities. This funding can be substantial with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimating that the amount of money laundered each year is equivalent to between two and five per cent of global GDP. This money is used to fund a whole range of nefarious activities. 

This is one area where technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) can make a significant contribution. For example, software company Lucinity has developed a suite of tools that use AI to help companies improve their anti-money laundering compliance. The company uses a ‘Human AI’ approach, which combines AI with human insights and expertise. Beyond technology, however, social enterprises have a role to play through investigative and policy work. For example, The Sentry conducts in-depth investigations to ensure that war crimes don’t pay. The organisation’s recent reports have exposed cases of corruption in Congo, Zimbabwe, and Sudan among many others.

Tackling misinformation

Strong democratic institutions require a healthy public discourse as well as widespread access to information. And innovators are working to prevent repressive regimes from restricting access to information and communication services. For example, Bridgefy’s messaging app, which doesn’t require Wi Fi or data, was downloaded over a million times during the 2021 military coup in Myanmar when internet services were disrupted.

Misinformation, which can be used to undermine faith in democratic institutions, is also an increasingly pervasive threat. Here too, innovators are playing their part. Social media tools developed by Indiana University’s Observatory on Social Media, help journalists, researchers and the public understand viral social media posts, including the role played by bots. Meanwhile an app, called the Newsroom, is hoping to counter fake news and disinformation by explaining how different publishers are covering the same event.

Access to justice

Legal equality is a foundational principle of liberal democracy and is considered a fundamental right in most countries around the world. However, access to legal representation in practice fails to live up to this ideal. For example, a 2019 study by the Task Force on Justice—a multi-stakeholder partnership bringing together UN member states, international organisations, and civil society—found that 5.1 billion people have no meaningful access to justice. 

Although legal systems can seem bureaucratic, innovation can make it easier for everyone in society to access justice. For example, simple visual aids that explain judicial processes can help non-experts to understand the legal system. Meanwhile, legal tech can be used to help people find affordable legal advice. Estonian startup HUGO has developed a platform that matches users to legal assistance they can afford. And, in the UK crowdfunding platform CrowdJustice makes it easier for individuals and organisations to raise funds for expensive legal action.

Words: Matthew Hempstead

Looking for inspiration on sustainability? Why not visit our SDG hub page for more articles on green innovation that matters.

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