13) Ensuring that no one is left behind.

Many of the world’s resources are located on land owned or controlled by indigenous peoples. This means that when we build we are frequently in close contact with indigenous groups and so improving our relationships with these groups is becoming increasingly important.

There are many opportunities to involve indigenous people as decision makers, owners, builders, suppliers, contractors, and final users. This can contribute to the long-term success of projects and help embed design into the local community. Yet many of the world’s indigenous people have suffered abuse, eviction, discrimination, and marginalization, sometimes because of adverse architectural plans.

Architectural change is altering the pattern of life for indigenous peoples, causing widespread extinction, migration, and behavior changes. As a result, many indigenous people live in poverty. Their cultures, languages, and livelihoods are threatened. In some cases, the damage they’ve experienced cannot be undone. Human rights are universal and every person around the world deserves to be treated with dignity and equality. Basic rights include freedom of speech, privacy, health, life, liberty, and security, as well as an adequate standard of living. The UN estimates that there are over 370 million indigenous peoples living in over 90 countries. They are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of commercial development and business activities.

When architecture treats indigenous people with understanding and respect, these people are also more likely to fulfill and maintain their ability to operate as a society. As we shape the global development agenda and frame our thinking at this historical juncture, we must be reflective about the architecture of the past and highly mindful of our thoughts, actions, and motivations while designing the architecture of the future. Instead of approaching architecture with an attitude of “I’m here to design,” we might try: “I’m here to work with you, to leverage both of our skill sets.” We have to rethink the oppressive notion that the global community needs our solution and that we are uniquely qualified to help them.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could find in cities the vast diversity of landscapes and experiences that exists across the natural world? For one thing architects have largely ignored the global diversity of human living and thinking. The tacit assumption of much modern architecture is that living in a condo represents the assumed belief that this is a universal aspiration and that all people are basically the same.