26) Architecture is a holistic enterprise.

The enjoyment of human rights through architecture addresses questions about the existence, content, nature, universality, and justification of architecture. Many people have looked for a way to support the idea that human rights have roots that are deeper and much more subject to human decisions than legal enactment. One version of this idea is that people are born with rights, that human rights are somehow innate or inherent in human beings. The way we build is a reflection of the way we live. This allows architecture to accommodate a great deal of cultural and institutional variation, and to allow for democratic decision-making and sustainability solutions when it comes to the design of human habitats.

At its most noble, architecture is the embodiment of our civic values. Architecture is an expression of values and architects are serial big-picture thinkers: they apply engineering, ecology, urbanism, poetry, biology, mineralogy, anthropology, technology, sociology, handcraft, and physics to a wide variety of global issues.

If we try to think of urban sustainability as the ability of architecture to reduce environmental degradation and human rights violations, we should add connotations of sustainability beyond the greening of buildings, energy conservation, and environmental accountability. This is when the conversation between architecture and human rights actually starts to evolve, because it moves away from the easy answers that assumes a right and a wrong. It acknowledges that we need a greater level of analysis and understanding, and a discussion about what we need to achieve. Human rights represent high-priority goals for architecture and assign responsibility for their progressive realization. Let’s not miss the obvious, human rights are rights. Human rights contain specific norms (for example, a prohibition on the design of spaces for torturing or killing) and specific values, for example, a respect for human life and dignity. Architecture and human rights combines a concern for the design and construction of places where human rights can be enjoyed and encouraged.

Human rights can push architecture and engineering to the limit. Human rights demand that we adjust to changes and difficulties and work with the prevailing circumstances.