Expanding the space for change in the built environment and the economy

“Who builds” is a creative process to open up new directions in planning, financing and maintaining the built environment, i.e. the places where people live, work and interact.

It is an opportunity to break out of silos and the demands of projects, to imagine and start moving in a better direction. 

There is abundant information on the problems with the status quo. They include unaffordable housing and displacement; needless demolition and overuse of materials; exploitation of construction workers; climate and environmental impacts; and inaccessible design… a whole lot of un-realized potential.

Many of these problems can be traced to unsustainable economic models and mis-aligned incentives.

While the system behind the built environment can seem complex, and entrenched, like any system it is in fact composed of people: of individuals with their own unique expertise and ideas for change.

“Who builds” will open up the space for connection, reflection and action. It will bring together people across sectors – finance, the public sector, design, technology, construction, philanthropy, civil society and more – who have a shared curiosity and desire for new directions in the built environment. It will generate a collective narrative(s) of opportunities, and elevate signals of practical change that are already underway.

“New” can also mean drawing on old and ancient traditions to bring about a shift from the status quo. 

Participants in this first phase will come away with:

• Individual practical takeaways: A new lens / lenses for approaching your work, grounded in the framing “who builds?”
  
• Collective opportunities: New strategies that emerge from this engagement, to advance a  shared narrative(s) and build momentum for change
  
• Signals of change: And a growing global map of innovation and new directions that are already underway

What’s involved in practice?

Just 5 hours’ of participants’ time during the first year!

Participants will respond to a short survey, with words and two images that illustrate the changes that they would like to see. They will then come together in a virtual session to review the collective insights and generate next steps. A public summary of outcomes from this first stage will be a stepping stone to wider engagement and further action. 

Some questions to prompt thinking towards change

• What would a culture of care look like for the built environment?
  
• What if finance into the built environment took a long-term and do-no harm perspective?
  
• What if the language(s) used by built environment professions was more accessible – opening rather than closing doors to engagement?
  
• What if the people who build buildings and infrastructure were seen as crucial to its existence, and their ideas and experiences were taken into account?
  
• What if climate action was always grounded in how it’s experienced – or may be experienced – by people?
  
• And: What are the other questions we can be asking?

Points of inspiration

“Think: Scale – Grow – Sustain” / “Dignity by Design” / The built environment – unpacking the system / “Building for Today and the Future” / and “Building Transformation“.