Architecture in the Developing World

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The Architecture in the Developing World panel seeks to explore the role that architects have when building in poor nations—where daily life may revolve more around basic employment, shelter, and health than it does around grand gestures of art. Well-known architects have a history of designing large scale projects in the developing world , but architecture could be seen as irrelevant to the lower income people in developing countries. How can architects build sensitively in urban slums or impoverished rural areas? Is there a role for the architect in poor countries? What types of innovation is needed in terms of affordability, sustainability, and cultural awareness are most essential to architects in the developing world?

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Laura Sussman, RISD Architecture '08

Elizabeth Dean Hermann, RISD Landscape Architecture Professor

Colgate Searle, RISD Landscape Architecture Professor