Architecture for Resilient Communities

Created by the UIA in 1985, World Architecture Day is celebrated annually on the first Monday of October in parallel with the United Nations’ (UN) World Habitat Day.

The theme of the 2023 World Habitat Day is “Resilient urban economies: cities as drivers of growth and recovery”.

Within this thematic frame, the UIA Council chose the theme “Architecture for Resilient Communities” for this year’s World Architecture Day. With this theme, the UIA seeks to place particular emphasis on the capacity and responsibility of architecture to create viable community life and open an international discussion on the relationship between urban and rural areas in all countries.

Uncontrolled urban sprawl all over the world threatens the environmental, social and economic balance of the globe. Climate crises, the global pandemic and political upheavals in many countries have revealed social, economic and environmental inequalities that threaten communities worldwide and disproportionally affect the poor and marginalised groups.

The world faces the difficult task of how to best respond to today’s climatic and social challenges. This raises the issue of the efficiency and adequacy of conventional planning instruments for the organisation of territories and the production of environmentally and socially respectful architecture.

On World Architecture Day, the UIA invites Member Sections to continue the discussion on this topic and encourage territorial and urban planning concepts and policies that enable architects to develop innovative solutions and design viable buildings and public spaces for resilient communities, aiming to “humanise” all types of urbanisation, respect cultural heritage and restore the relation to nature and biodiversity.