24) How does responsibility work?

Rights always trigger obligations and responsibilities, whereas needs do not. Rights cannot be addressed without raising the question of who has obligations in relation to those rights.

Economic, social and cultural human rights involve a three-fold obligation, regardless of resources; an obligation of non-discrimination, an obligation to adopt measures, and an obligation to ensure at least that basic rights are observed.

As to the formal legal basis, human-rights treaties seldom explicitly obligate actors other than national governments to be bound by their guidelines. But as people of conscience, and as a profession dedicated to improving the built environment for all, architects cannot be involved in the design of spaces that violate human life and dignity. A preliminary consideration of the relationship between professionals and human-rights responsibilities immediately reveals that professionals can have an impact on the human rights of others by virtue of their expertise. Architects, designers, and planners definitely have the power to change lives for the better. Like it or not, environment influences human behavior and this is true whether the environment is natural or man-made. Because architecture is becoming our main environment, no architect can persuasively claim to be an impotent and powerless bystander in the face of human rights violations. Architects still have freedom of choice. And their choices could not matter more.

Neutrality is often an excuse that architects use to hide from their responsibility. Rights-based development is based on the ethical premise that everyone is entitled to a certain standard of material and spiritual wellbeing. Rights-based development takes the side of people who suffer injustice by acknowledging their equal worth and dignity; it removes the charity dimension of development by emphasizing both rights and responsibilities. Rights-based thinking recognizes people—including the poor, women, minority groups, diverse people, old people, and children—not as beneficiaries, but as active rights-holders. It also establishes a corresponding duty to ensure that nobody’s rights are infringed by design.

When designing for them, an architect should think not just about the bare necessities,  but about what it means to be human. This approach counteracts the discriminatory and anti-social provisions of architectural solutions that hinder the development of their users, divide neighborhoods, stand in the way of co-operation, and give rise to political tensions between peoples. Such provisions are contrary to the fundamental principles of social sustainability, and thus seriously disturb peace and security.

We do not expect architects to draw up peace treaties, but they should expose injustice and ensure equality in architectural design. This is a positive obligation requiring professionals to think proactively about how they can achieve these aims in the course of their work. This involves access to knowledge as well as to the way that professionals choose to use their skills. From the smallest home renovation to the largest mega-project, their work has an immediate and lasting impact on people and places.

Architecture can facilitate and empower new participatory community solutions for planning, designing, implementing, and managing more human-rights-centered city developments. Rights, as opposed to needs, make no claim for aid and benevolence, but instead for a duty to support marginalized people as equal human beings in their efforts to claim their rights and address the poverty, suffering, and injustice in their lives.

Architects can subvert these rights, partly by setting other priorities, and partly by ignorance of the relationship between their actions and these concepts. We know all too well that inadequate housing increases the risk of severe ill-health and disability; it can also lead to poor mental health, lower educational attainment, unemployment, and poverty. Rights raise questions about the actions and responsibility of duty-bearers.

No building type or architectural style creates inequality on its own. The importance of human rights lies not only in their definition or enforcement, but in the continued discussion and redefinition of the issues. Social and environmental sustainability is a choice and a responsibility. Architects can start by taking a stand against a status quo that simply isn’t acceptable, and then dedicating their work to changing it.