Architecture, Infrastructure and Incremental Housing for Crisis

Profile of the programme

(Humanitarian) Architecture, Infrastructure and (Incremental) Housing for Crisis is a post master or short master focusing on some of the central crises affecting the world today. It mainly concentrates on the problems experienced by the most vulnerable people and communities affected by climate change, extreme weather events, and disasters in general, including biological ones. It will address specific housing and relocation issues related to lack of infrastructure in informal settings, extreme poverty, migration, refugees, and displaced populations due to hunger, underdevelopment, social injustice, discrimination of all kinds, economic recession, climate impacts and armed or political conflicts It will focus on human rights issues, particularly the right to housing, social justice and equality in terms of gender, race, nationality and ethnicity.

The application period ends on the 20th of December, and the course begins on the 12th of January 2024.

Key learning outcomes

This short master qualifies professionals in the field of architecture to work in humanitarian aid and crisis situations in general. Through an offer of articulated eight thematic modules tutored by international experts, academics and practitioners with relevant experience, this course deepens and consolidates knowledge in key areas that intersect architectural design, disasters and development. Delivering an intensive apprenticeship at the confluence of disciplinary perspectives offers architects and other professionals from nearby areas useful tools to respond to disasters, health or refugee crises, and critical situations within informal settings

Blending various topics, from the technical to the institutional, the social to the geographic, and the ethical to the esthetical, it focuses on the resilience of the communities inhabiting the urban margins. Addressing vulnerability drivers, this course seeks a comprehensive and critical reading of urgent and often unjust realities

This short master adopts a perspective of intersectionality and a decolonized vision of architecture that transcends the conservative paradigms in which we have been long-cherished. This means instilling a genuine commitment that will lead to a new generation of architects and practitioners who design and (re)build with people in mind. Those open to discussing their proposals with families, individuals, local representatives and communities, without discrimination of any kind, assume themselves not as mighty designers but as agents of social change instead, leaving no one behind.

Occupational profiles of graduates

Independent professionals, consultants, designers, technicians or project managers in national and international organizations acting in the humanitarian response, emergence, disaster recovery, sheltering and housing of migrants and refugees arenas. (e.g. EU and UN agencies, Cities Alliance, Slum Dwellers International) Practitioners and experts of public and private agencies programs and projects, namely governmental cooperation entities and non-profit organizations working in slum upgrading and incremental housing projects (e.g. the World Bank, NGOs and foundations, and municipalities or local governmental offices)

Learning facilities

UBI Central Library and Digital Repository with access to books, dissertations and thesis; Bibliography online database; Platform ISI Web of Knowledge (Wok); Online Library of Knowledge (B-On), with access to scientific journals; PROQUEST Database; Amadeus Database; CIAUD-pole and CMADE which are UBI research centers funded by FCT; INE's access point; European Center of Documentation at UBI's central library; Classrooms with informatic equipment and wifi; Self-Learning Lab (LABA) Santander-Totta; Wireless network, canteen, bars and restaurant. Parternhiship agreements are being established with national and international organizations to offer internships. Those interested in research will find opportunities at the UBI CIAUD-pole and publish in the journals associated with the CIAUD, the research centre of the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Lisbon, namely the "Espaços Vivídos, Espaços Construídos" (Lived Spaces, Built Spaces) managed by the CIAUD group GESTUAL.