Architecture, Planning, and International Law
An open-ended series bringing legal and built environment experts together to discuss urgent topics at the intersection of their jurisdictions.
From climate change to military aggression, many challenges do not respect sovereign borders and require global, coordinated responses. The system of international law was set up precisely to address such challenges, finding its present configuration largely in the aftermath of World War II. But with the current, interconnected rise of nationalist regimes all around the world, this legal system is under threat.
In addition to law, architecture and planning expertise informs these shifts. Aspects of this interplay between the built environment and international law include the willful destruction of civilian infrastructure, assaults on cultural heritage, territorial disputes, flows of labor and materials, and the causes and effects of climate change, to name just a few.
As an institution dedicated to the support of transformational work in architecture and the allied fields, The Architectural League is committed to making space for education and action on these themes. How are architecture and planning both agents and effects in the machinations of international law; and where is this system, and the built environment’s place in it, headed?
Support
This program is supported by The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, and by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
