In 1999, a recently graduated architecture student challenged the construction industry to ‘give a damn’ in responding to humanitarian crises around the world. Hear the story of Cameron Sinclair, Architecture for Humanity and how a volunteer army of architects helped produce housing and community facilities for over 2M people around the world.

Soccer, football or the beautiful game brings billions of people together. Cameron speaks on how community-centered sports facilities from Afghanistan, Brazil, China, Kenya and Haiti can help young people make goals by making goals!

The United States has over 400 millions weapons in the hands of its citizens. As a result, every year, there are hundreds of thousands of decommissioned weapons that end up either in the hands of law enforcement or, unfortunately, fall into the hands of people who might use them for illegal means. In the mid-2000’s, the idea of Armory of Harmony was born. The organization takes these weapons and smelts them into working musical instruments.

Sitting on a major fault line, Turkey has faced an influx of refugees from Syria while simultaneously dealing with exponential growth of its population. New buildings ignored international codes and local governments gave amnesty to illegal buildings. As a result, when an earthquake happened, thousands of people died as a result of poor policy and bad buildings. Today, we look at areas around the world that faced adversity and how designers worked with locals to recover.

Japan is the land of tsunamis and earthquakes, where disaster strikes every few years and buildings swaying are a part of life. Almost 15 years ago, the country was devastated by a huge disaster that wiped out villages and towns, altering the future of generations to come. This talk discusses how social ventures and small businesses helped towns come back and what innovations came out of this tragedy.

In 2015, the building peace foundation partnered with Cameron Sinclair and natural building expert Pouya Khazaeli to develop a series of schools in Zaatari refugee camp. Within three years, they built over a dozen schools by creating a simple system that engaged and empowered refugees to be part of the construction process. Today we look at how transitional structures can create a temporary health and education infrastructure in times of conflict and areas of disaster. 

The Kwajalein Atoll is like many low-lying islands around the world. This is the last generation to call this nation home. What happens when rising sea levels force a community to seek higher ground when there is none? People have been living on this island for thousands of years; what happens to the history, the culture and a highly interconnected society when they are made to leave? For families on the Kwajalein Atoll, they have 20 years to figure that out.

Rapid urbanization and aging populations has created a unique situation where rural towns and villages are emptying out and could potentially become abandoned. No more so than in Japan where over 800 villages are set to disappear over the next decade. By creating new industries and rethinking our buildings, we can revitalize communities to become new centers of growth. Today we look at the Yoshino Cedar House, a project that adapted the short term rental model with a community center to create a new idea for the hospitality industry.

This concept was born in Curitiba, Brazil. As an architect and mayor, Jaime Lerner led the movement that transformed his city into an ‘laboratory for urban planning’. The idea was simple: implement micro interventions rapidly before they can get stopped by the city's own bureaucracy. Now thousands of places have taken on this concept and created citizen architects, fighting for people-centered communities. Learn how it happened and what we can do in our own communities