“To achieve success in an endeavor such as this, it is the power of design that will transform people’s lives,” Lari said during her presentation. “The more meager the resources, the more attention is needed to create well-designed environments.”

During the keynote presentation at our In Focus: Radical Repair evening of talks, Pakistani architect Yasmeen Lari spoke passionately about her barefoot social architecture for attaining social and ecological justice.

The 2023 RIBA Royal Gold Medal and 2017 Curry Stone Prize winner has for many years focused on teaching traditional building techniques to women in Pakistan, allowing them to develop or rebuild their own communities in the wake of disasters.

Lari is the co-founder of the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan, which dedicated to the research and conservation of the architectural heritage of her country—both the World Heritage Sites in Makli and Lahore, as well as everyday buildings. Her work aims to highlight the vulnerability of the Global South in the face of the climate crisis, and find architectural solutions to help raise the population above the poverty line.

“It is not just the privileged who have a right to well designed environments,” she said. “The disadvantaged and those that live on the margins need more, not less, design.”

This presentation was part of In Focus: Radical Repair the live recording took place on September 28, 2023, and was the first event organized in the framework of the global cultural partnership between The World Around and @FondationCartier. In Focus: Radical Repair was held in collaboration with @triennalemilano.

To find out more about The World Around's programming or to get in touch, visit https://www.theworldaround.com

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