Blueprint for Better

Architects design the spaces in which we live, work, learn and gather, which directly impact our communities, resources, and environment. Architects are uniquely positioned to develop innovative approaches to urbanization as they are systems thinkers, facilitators, public servants concerned with welfare, and visionaries who communicate possibilities for a better future.

Recognizing this, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) encourages its 90,000 members to be advocates for design solutions to the world's most pressing urbanization challenges and to promote design solutions to make communities safer today and in the future.

This panel will focus on how architects are organizing to support the New Urban Agenda, advocate for its goals, and implement it through design that fosters thriving, resilient communities. The speakers will demonstrate the value of engaging design professionals and how good design has a positive impact on health, security, resilience, and the environment.

The AIA will share how it is embracing the New Urban Agenda with an outreach campaign to inform and engage architects, community leaders, and citizens with efforts ranging from local to global. These efforts include featuring the New Urban Agenda as a central theme of the Institute's upcoming annual conference in New York, which is expected to draw 23,000 attendees; grassroots education across the U.S.; and internationally through engagement with counterparts in the Americas, Africa, and Asia.

Speakers will also share the value of engaging architects in community and municipal projects with examples of how design fosters thriving, resilient urban spaces. For example, with recent historic hurricanes, floods, and droughts across the globe AIA has responded by focusing not only on recovery, but rebuilding better with support from the AIA Disaster Assistance Program, the Disaster Assistance Handbook, and the AIA Resilience Network.