arcpeace

ARC-PEACE signed statement:

Ending corporate capture of the United Nations

Among others the statements says: "In the lead up to the Rio+20 Earth Summit, the UN is partnering with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in Business Action for Sustainable Development2. The Zero Draft declaration for Rio+20 reinforces the role of business as a promoter of the so-called green economy, but completely fails to address the role of business in creating the financial, climate, food and other crises." The statement has been initiated by Friends of the Earth and was signed by 300 civil society associations by the 13th of May.
Read the full statement at:

http://www.foei.org/en/get-involved/take-action/end-un-corporate-capture

Forward from Copenhagen

The 17^th biannual meeting of ARC●PEACE represents a big step forward for our international network. No less than 26 persons from 14 countries participated in the meeting, which took place in the modernist Danish Architect Centre in Copenhagen. The meeting was eminently chaired by Mewahib Yagoub Mohamed from Sudan and Sven Thiberg from Sweden. The day after there was a well attended seminar arranged in collaboration with Architecture Sans Frontières – International, which had its own meeting in the same place on Saturday in the same week. See further.

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Participants in the 17^th ARC●PEACE meeting in Copenhagen 12^th April 2012. Standing, from left: Sven Thiberg, Alice Thiberg, Tom Woolley, Osman El Kheir, Pawan Shrestha, Willy Mfuni Kakaya (ASF RDCongo), Nita Lorimer, Graeme Bristol, Bijay Misra, Richard Losalajome (ASF RDCongo), Apollinaire Salumu (ASF RDCongo), Luz Maria Sanchez, Doaa Eldeidiri, Oscar Margenet Nadal, Paul Sabiti Amisi (ASF RDCongo), Paul Broches, Mewahib Yagoub Mohamed. Sitting, from left: Predrag Milosevic, Guruprasad Rane, Dick Urban Vestbro, Franziska Amacher, Ahmad Al-Jowder, Rune Asholt (ASF-Denmark).

Education of architects and planners should focus on social responsibility

The ARC-PEACE meeting in Copenhagen adopted a statement on the education of architects and planners advocating a more socially responsible approach to architectural, planning and urban design education than currently exists in many parts of the world. In the statement schools are urged to develop curricula and train instructors to teach the architectural and planning skills necessary to create healthy, socially sustainable environments and to create buildings and cities with smaller carbon footprints that reduce consumption and conserve energy.
Read the full statement here.

New publication: Human Rights in Architectural Education.
By Graeme Bristol of the Centre for Architecture & Human Rights
(new member of ARC-PEACE)

The architectural profession continues to focus on aspects of design that result in a greater distance from the broader issues of development and social exclusion. The institutions representing the profession, and in particular, the architecture schools have an obligation to address these problems. This paper suggests an alternative approach to the architecture curriculum centred on a human rights-based approach to the practice of the profession. Read the full paper here.