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CURRENT ACTIVITIES: |
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COURSES: |
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CAHR 2010: |
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10 KEY PROJECTS: |
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· International Studio (Phnom Penh) · Kids & the Built Environment 1 · Kids & the Built Environment 2 · Portable School · Training Programmes · Continuing Professional Development · Migrant Construction Workers study · Symposium 2010 · Urban Codes & Human Rights · Construction contracts and Human Rights |
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CONTACT: |
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CAHR International 464 Stannard Avenue,
CAHR in Thailand 231/2 South Sathorn Road, |
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BUILDING: |
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· Unfolding School (upcoming) · Portable School (operating) |
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IN THE NEWS: |
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· Executive Director, Graeme Bristol interviewed in architectureBC, January 2010 · Executive Director, Graeme Bristol interviewed by Bangkok Post, August 2009 · Portable School on Thai Channel 9 and Executive Director Graeme Bristol interviewed. · Executive Director, Graeme Bristol interviewed by Radio Nederlands |
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Welcome to the Centre for Architecture and Human Rights
We don’t often find the words ‘architecture’ and ‘human rights’ in such close proximity. The design of the built environment involves architects, planners and engineers in activities that have a profound effect on people, their actions, their rights and their environment. For example, what do these diverse projects have in common?
· Urban regeneration projects · Three Gorges Dam · Urban expressways · Recovery from natural disasters
They all involve engineers, architects and planners and they all result in the displacement of people - typically the poor.
From urban renewal projects in the 50s and 60s through to water privatization and dam projects, many communities pay a heavy price for urban and infrastructure development. To that extent, they are not seeking a ‘Right to Development’ but often protection from it.
CAHR is a non-profit foundation registered in Canada whose purpose is to promote a rights-based approach to development in the practice of architecture, planning and engineering. Our programmes and projects are focused on five related areas:
EDUCATION By expanding built environment education to include human rights in continuing professional development, training programmes, professional degree programmes, and for children;
ACTION RESEARCH Through the application of analysis and research on the relationship between design, development and human rights law; through the establishment of a Knowledge Centre;
MONITORING By strengthening awareness of the implications of building and land use regulations on human rights through the monitoring of legislation affecting urban development;
ADVOCACY By provision of technical aid to vulnerable communities through research, networking, professional institutes and students; by advocating at the national and local level for changes in regulations to better protect rights.
BUILDING Arising from education and research programmes, small building projects are identified from which pilot projects can develop. In 2008 one such pilot project was the portable school for children of migrant construction workers. We are now working on the funding for the next stage of this work.
The design of the built environment can and should support rights through improved education and more effective work in communities. Equally important, the design of the built environment just gets better when we consider human rights from the start. |
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· March— Bangkok: The homeless of Sanam Luang (with KMUTT) · May—Vancouver : Lecture at AGM of AIBC · Jun—Completion of Draft, ‘Architecture and Human Rights’ · October—Bangkok |
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WRITING: |
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Just completed: · “Surviving the Second Tsunami: land rights in the face of buffer zones, land grabs, and development” (2010), in Lizarralde, G., Davidson, C., and Johnson, C. (eds.), Rebuilding after disasters: From emergency to sustainability, Taylor & Francis. · “Rendered Invisible: Urban Planning, Cultural Heritage, and Human Rights” (forthcoming), in Logan, W., Nic Craith, M., and Langfield, M. (eds.)Cultural Diversity, Heritage and Human Rights, Routledge. For April 2010: · "Architecture & Human Rights" (forthcoming) in Cushman, Thomas (ed.), Handbook of Human Rights, Routledge. |
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TEACHING |
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Professional Degree Programme (with KMUTT) · Studio – Community Design · Architecture and Human Rights · Ethics for Design Professionals · Housing · Professional Practice · Environmental Psychology · Human Impacts on the Environment
Continuing Professional Development: · Architecture and Human Rights (AIBC, for May 2010) · Migrant Construction Workers: Architectural Responses in the International Arena (AIBC, 2009) · The Portable School (MADE, 2009) · Right to the City (RAIC, 2006) · The Role of Architecture in Post-Disaster Development (RAIC, 2005) |