The Pakistan floods – re-building though women’s empowerment and sustainable design.
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The floods in Pakistan have caused devastation on an unprecedented scale, leaving one third of the country under water and 33 million people displaced. The guest speaker for this year’s IDS Annual Lecture, the pioneering architect Yasmeen Lari, will discuss the role that co-building and sustainable architecture are playing in the response to this catastrophic crisis and in longer-term development.
Yasmeen Lari is Pakistan’s first female architect, winner of the prestigious Jane Drew architecture prize in 2020 and founder of the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan. In Pakistan where more than 1 in 5 live below the national poverty line she founded the Barefoot Social Architecture initiative, which supports the pursuit of zero poverty through a rights-based, self-build approach.
In this lecture she will share the recent experiences of her and her team’s work to scale-up the training of villagers displaced by the floods to build prefab sustainable shelters, which can also be easily dismantled and re-used in their villages when they return home.
Architecture and development
As well as the important role of architectural design within humanitarian crises, Yasmeen Lari will share how design can play a critical role in international development, with lessons learnt from her low-tech, low-impact, low-cost methodologies employed through Barefoot Social Architecture. With a focus on providing agency to women, the initiative promotes self-built, zero carbon, affordable structures in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Malawi designed to withstand extreme events such as flooding or earthquakes or be erected within days in crisis response.
IDS believes that interdisciplinary, participatory methods between architects, development practitioners, social science researchers and low-income households can help address poverty and the intersecting issues of gender justice, climate adaptation and cultural heritage. Join us for this year’s annual lecture in person or online and learn from the latest ideas on sustainable architecture’s role in social, economic and environmental development.
Chair
Professor Melissa Leach, Director, Institute of Development Studies
How to watch
Register to watch online on Zoom
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