Humanitarian Construction

Our planet faces significant challenges from global climate change, increasing natural disasters, urbanisation, population growth, intra-state conflict and poverty. The response to these challenges is largely implemented by the humanitarian sector. Within this sector, the provision of built environment facilities (e.g. schools, hospitals, shelter, water and sanitation, infrastructure etc) is critical. Such facilities are often implemented in complex and challenging contexts which extend the skills of those built environment professionals responsible for delivering them. This subject investigates the role of built environment professionals (architects, construction managers, builders, planners and engineers) in the humanitarian sector. The topics covered include the global and regional humanitarian sector, the role of the built environment in the humanitarian sector, development/ compromised market/ post-disaster / post-conflict reconstruction contexts, stakeholder equity and participation, monitoring and evaluation, building community capital and resilience, and pathways to working in the humanitarian sector