Page 48 - Norman Foster Foundation Re-materializing Housing Workshop

2021 Re-materializing Housing Workshop
Contents Report
Public Debates
Keynote Presentations: Second Block
Keynote Presentation – Johan Karlsson
Providing the context that there are eighty million displaced people who depend on aid, Johan Karlsson highlighted the difference between humanitarian aid, which has to do with the relief of immediate suffering, and developmental aid, which is about building resilient societies in the long-term. Noting that, while BetterShelter’s housing units are, in theory, designed to only last two or three years, in practice, they are used for decades as families’ lives progress and unfold within their walls. According to Karlsson, it is precisely that dichotomy which poses a challenge for architects: how can one design long-lasting solutions for ‘temporary’ situations of displacement and emergency? Even if designing for a short-term objective, such as that of immediate emergency aid, Karlsson said, designers must come up with solutions that can be locally-prepared and locally-upgraded by communities in order to adapt to the changing lives of people and families over time.
Johan Karlsson during his keynote presentation as part of the first edition of the Re-materializing Housing Public Debates
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