This past festive season, I had a privilege to visit New York City on a sponsored scholarly visit by my university. One thing that caught my eye was the built environment. It’s designed in such a way that people and the surrounding infrastructure they co-relate and co-exist. With an eye for anything construction, sustainability and the environment my mind perambulated on the architect of the city. I was in awe and shock of the different bike lanes, pedestrian, trains and cars sparse lanes.
Many hard hat professionals, human rights advocates and scholars alike, never considered human rights and architecture to be so linked, you’re not alone. Most people think architects design buildings and cities, which has no bearing at all on humanity. Buildings and cities are designed for people and they impact how we relate and co-exist.
A bit of introduction to jogging our memory. Architecture is both the process and the product of planning, designing, and constructing buildings or any other structures. There is a lot that can be invested in a diverse group of people, organizations and or agencies to achieve an architecture that respects human rights.
The architect of the city resonates to what the Emergence and Architect for Human Rights advocates (www.eahr.org). They advocate for cities that are designed and constructed according to the UN Declaration of Human rights. On my way back home, the thought of the nexus between architect and human rights was playing in my mind and had to do a little bit of research.
For example, the interrelation between health and architect can be summarised on the details on sidewalks. Neighbourhoods with more walkability had lower rates of obesity as well as an increased physical activity among its residents. They also had lower rates of depression, higher social capital, and less alcohol abuse. Walkability features in these neighbourhoods include safety, sidewalk construction, as well as destinations in which to walk. In addition, the perception of a walkable neighbourhood, one that is perceived to have good sidewalks and connectivity, is correlated with higher rates of physical activity.
Assessments of walkability have been completed using GIS programs, such as the Street-Smart Walk Score. This example of a walkability assessment tool determines distances to grocery stores and other amenities, as well as connectivity and intersection frequency using specific addresses. Assessments such as the Street-Smart Walk Score can be utilized by city and country planning departments to improve the existing walkability of communities.
To implement walkable neighbourhoods, community members and local leaders should focus on policy development. An effective framework that has been utilized in an abundance of communities is the Complete Streets concept of community planning that has been developed by the National Complete Streets Coalition (NCSC). NCSC states that the most successful policies are those that reflect input from a broad group of stakeholders, including transportation planners and engineers, elected officials, transit agencies, public health departments, and members of the community.
According to Riggs, 2016, policies may focus on a “Complete Streets” investment, which includes sidewalk bulb-outs and refuges to reduce crossing distances or street widths for pedestrians. Other investments should include installing crosswalks, road markings, benches, shelters and sidewalk art installations. Every community will have a unique method of policy development depending on whether it is an urban, suburban, or rural community and how the policy will combine the variety of transportation modalities. Communities may choose to focus on walkability, but will also need to consider biking, wheeling/rolling, driving, and emergency vehicles. Architecture and human rights are inseparable, they have to be interchangeable.
-Educating architectural associations and agencies on the importance of embedding human rights in their field.
Curriculum overhauls to include human rights due to diligence courses in architect studies at TVET and Universities
Educating government agencies, NGOs and intergovernmental organizations to capacitate them to inspire a human rights approach to architect and the built environments.
There is a lot that our African countries can learn in as far as the architect and human rights are concerned from our Western counterparts. The need for stakeholder engagement and involvement in the planning of cities and infrastructure is of utmost importance. According to an African proverb, if you want to go near go alone if you want to go far take a friend.
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