Critical Conversations on
Architecture & Human Rights
Stories are what we use to transmit knowledge. They give meaning to our lives. I immersed myself into the stories of these dispossessed people and I quickly came to see that architecture grows out of everyday experiences more often than we realize. What I want to relate here is that architecture offers a critical and ethical arena in which different kinds of knowledge can be generated and exchanged. At its simplest, architecture is about facilitating a range of different voices to articulate the change they want to bring to their neighborhoods and their cities.
However, it’s not enough just to tell a story. Though powerful, a story needs to do more than just communicate how its tellers live. It must transform this narrative into an acknowledged right to exist. How would architecture bring our stories to life and affirm our right to exist? Our understanding begins with a story but doesn’t end there. The information collected and reported are useful and usable to change how we design and how we improve our approaches and outcomes. There is always a better way out that we can try instead.
I find an Addis Ababa in every city I go to.
If the conversations in this book had not taken place, the silence in their place would have been filled with our indifference. Instead these stories have galvanized many of us working in architecture to bridge the discontented worlds of planning, commerce, culture, politics, and community-building.
These conversations remind us that overcoming the deteriorating conditions in the fabric of our cities is the challenge that will determine the future success of architecture. We are in the midst of a worldwide decline in international human rights. Turbulent and authoritarian urban planning like that of Addis Ababa force thousands of households into a choice between abiding by the rule of the market or moving elsewhere: I want to drill down again on the premise that Addis Ababa is everywhere and the future of all our cities now depends on how we approach the cities and the citizens of the Global South.
