Research

Research

Over the years, writing and research have been focused on issues arising from the 6 areas where I see an intersection between architecture and human rights; that is, participation, cultural rights, rights of access, housing rights, environmental rights, and workers’ rights. Some of these began as presentations and ended as papers. In addition, these 6 issues fall under a broad umbrella of professional ethics and architectural education.

Current research:

• Cities – papers currently underway on (1) gentrification and rights, and (2) the Human Rights City
• Rights and the construction industry (including contracts for consultants, construction, and procurement); the regulation of the built environment
• Labour rights and architecture
• Completion of a book – working title “Architecture and human rights”

Past research:

Architecture and ethics

• Under the editorship of the RAIC, Graeme Bristol wrote the Ethics section of the 3rd edition of the Canadian Handbook of Practice (CHOP) 2020;
• Human Rights and Development Practice (2008), dissertation for LLM at Queen’s University Belfast
• The Architect’s Responsibility: Beyond the City Limits (2000), conference proceedings, annual convention of the Association of Siamese Architects. Bangkok, Thailand.
• Architecture and Shelter: The Roles and Responsibilities of Architects in Meeting Basic Needs. (1992) Master’s Thesis, UBC School of Architecture.

Community Design/alternative practice

• Pom Mahakan community – Student report. This bilingual report represented 3 months work with the Pom Mahakan community. It was also an argument for their continued residency and was also a part of the community’s submission to the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand.
• The Citizen Architect (2002), presented at the Architectural Institute of British Columbia ‘Speaking Out’ conference 02 May 02 and lectures at the Sarvajanik College of Engineering & Technology, Surat, India, September 2002
• The Last Architect (2004) conference proceedings, the Silpakorn Architectural Discourse, 18-19 MAR 04, Bangkok, Thailand.

Architecture education and human rights

• Architectural Education & Human Rights (2011) paper presented at the UIA Tokyo Congress, September 2011.
• Bringing Human Rights to the Architecture Curriculum (2004), Arcasia 11 Conference, 01 DEC 04, Macau.
• “The Girls’ Home: Developing Thoughts on Democracy” (2002), Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography Vol. 23, No. 3. November, 2002.
• curriculum development for a rights-based professional degree program in architecture (see Projects – ‘UNESCO Chair programme);
• continuing professional development courses on issues of human rights and architecture

UN-Habitat Case Studies (Housing rights)

• The struggle for tenure in Cambodia (2007) Case Study in Enhancing Urban Safety and Security: UN-Habitat Global Report on Human Settlements 2007.
• Strategies for survival: Security of tenure in Bangkok (2007) Case Study in Enhancing Urban Safety and Security: UN-Habitat Global Report on Human Settlements 2007.

Disaster recovery/land rights

• Support for Rehabilitation of Traditional Communities Affected by the Tsunami (2007) UNDP Report.
• See also Chapter 7 (pp 133- 148) in Lizarralde, G., Davidson, C., and Johnson, C. (eds.), Rebuilding after disasters: From emergency to sustainability, Taylor & Francis (2010) in Book Chapters

Architecture and cultural rights

• Killing Culture (2014) presented at the ICOMOS Thailand 2014 conference, ‘Historic Urban Landscapes and Heritage: Example, Approaches & Cultural Rights’, Bangkok, Thailand, 11-13 DEC 2014
• Rendered Invisible: Urban Planning, Cultural Heritage, and Human Rights Chapter 8 (pp 117-134) in Logan, W., Nic Craith, M., and Langfield, M. (eds.) Cultural Diversity, Heritage and Human Rights, Routledge (2010) in Book Chapters

Architecture and environment

• Some Reflections on Sustainability and Beauty (2003). Unpublished
• Rights and the Environment (2007). Unpublished

Cities/rights of access

• The Right to the City: Implications for Architecture (2007), based, in part, on a presentation to the RAIC Festival of Architecture, Vancouver, June 2006

The right to participate

• Participation is a Right (2021) – presented online for the 27th World Congress of Architects UIA2021RIO, July 2021