The International Union of Architects (UIA) has announced the theme for this year's World Architecture Day, which is taking place annually on the first Monday of October in parallel with the United Nations' (UN) World Habitat Day. 

"Architecture for Resilient Communities"

The theme of the 2023 World Habitat Day is "Resilient urban economies: cities as drivers of growth and recovery”. In parallel to the World Habitat Day's topic, this year's theme for the World Architecture Day was chosen as "Architecture for Resilient Communities".

This year's World Architecture Day will be celebrated on Monday, 2 October 2023.

Image courtesy of UIA

As the UIA explained, with this theme, the UIA, an international non-governmental organisation based in Paris, aims to place particular emphasis on the capacity and responsibility of architecture to create viable community life and open an international discussion on the relationship between urban and rural areas in all countries.

Tranquil Abode: A disaster resilient dwelling by WM Re-Lab for Bahaal Pakistan, Baitussalam Welfare. Image © WM Creative Studio and Baitussalam Welfare Trust

The UIA emphasized that "uncontrolled urban sprawl all over the world threatens the environmental, social and economic balance of the globe." 

"Climate crises, the global pandemic and political upheavals in many countries have revealed social, economic and environmental inequalities that threaten communities worldwide and disproportionally affect the poor and marginalised groups."

Since the world faces the difficult task of how to best respond to today's climatic and social challenges, this year's theme is aimed to "raise the issue of the efficiency and adequacy of conventional planning instruments for the organisation of territories and the production of environmentally and socially respectful architecture."

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Lagos-based Nigerian architect Tosin Oshinowo completed the first phase of the Nigerian village and the community began to move in. Image courtesy of UNDP and Tolulope Sanusi

On World Architecture Day, the UIA invites Member Sections to continue the discussion on this topic and encourage territorial and urban planning concepts and policies that enable architects to develop innovative solutions and design viable buildings and public spaces for resilient communities.

The goal of the discussions is to "humanise" all types of urbanisation, respect cultural heritage and restore the relation to nature and biodiversity.

World Architecture Day was created by the UIA in 1985, intended "to remind the world of its collective responsibility for the future of the human habitat." The idea was simple: the goal was "to reflect on the state of our towns and cities and the basic right of all to adequate shelter. It is also intended to remind the world of its collective responsibility for the future of the human habitat."

Top image: Women filling water from a reservoir on the way to Mubarak Village in Sindh, Pakistan. Image by Shabbir Siraj / Wikipedia (CC BY 2.0).

> via UIA 

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