RIBA and The Prince’s Foundation joint debate: Globalisation and the Architect

The RIBA and The Prince’s Foundation host a joint debate on whether Western-style urban development in developing economies is stifling local building traditions, local economies and local cultures.

From Masdar to Dongtan the rapidly expanding economies of the developing world are shaping new cities at unprecedented speed and scale. Western ’starchitecture’ has been the popular choices for signature buildings and masterplanning in the Middle and Far East. Now a debate hosted by The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) on 25 May at the RIBA, 66 Portland Place, W1 will ask whether this is sustainable – or whether a model of development is possible where local communities plan, design and construct their new homes and buildings out of locally sourced materials. The event is part of the RIBA’s International Dialogues: Architecture and Climate Change talks sponsored by Gleeds.

Many people are increasingly questioning the assumption that Western architectural norms can be transposed from Northern Europe or America to the Middle East, where vertical walls of glass rising from the deserts of Dubai force the use of large amounts of energy to then artificially cool these massive buildings. By contrast, a revival of the local vernacular of heavily shaded, thick walled construction might see new buildings which stay cool without depleting valuable energy reserves. Doubts are being raised as to the capacity of imported skills to understand hard earned and timeless local building practices - practices that are key to the cultures of these diverse nations.

Yet at the same time traditional cultures, where the fabric of communities has evolved slowly and organically, have never had to cope with the quite extraordinary pace of population growth and movement, combined with the phenomenal rates of economic expansion, in developing countries around the world. How could traditional modes of development possibly cope with the need to house and provide infrastructure for millions of new heads every year? How could tradition cope with a world where over half the global population live and work in cities?

Hank Dittmar, CE of The Prince’s Foundation will lead the debate. "By importing Western architecture we rob emerging countries of the social, economic and environmental dividends from new development", he comments. "Instead of benefiting from growth, developing countries see money drain offshore in profits to Western developers whilst their own wisdom around how to construct comfortable, durable and beautiful buildings is ignored in the rush towards high-tech."

Ruth Reed, RIBA President said:

"This is an important and challenging issue and we are delighted to be hosting this debate jointly with The Prince’s Foundation. This event results from a commitment the RIBA and Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment made to continue to work together following the successful RIBA Trust’s 2009 Annual Lecture by HRH the Prince of Wales, and is a demonstration both of our common ground on sustainability issues and of our openness to exploration of areas of difference. I do not necessarily believe there is a ’right’ or a ’wrong’ way to address the challenge of development, but I do believe the issue is a hugely important one. I therefore look forward to a really good and valuable debate."

Joining Hank Dittmar in the debate are:

* Robert Adam, architect, who has written widely on globalisation and challenges the norms of western-based approaches to design, planning and development.

* Peter Head of ARUP was an engineer on the Dongtan project in China and will talk about designing a new city at speed - and whether a local approach can work in practise.

* Rory Stewart of the Turquoise Mountain Foundation will talk about how his charity is helping strengthen and regenerate the historic quarter of Kabul.

The Prince’s Foundation has worked with local communities to create masterplans for neighbourhoods in China, Jamaica, Sierra Leone and Kabul. It has also carried out research in the UK to show the economic impact on local communities from building with local materials , local workforces and local building traditions. This ranged from £12K generated for the local community from building just one house from locally sourced materials and labour to £2.6bn if all new UK housing were built this way.