Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility

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Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility (ADPSR) is a 501(c)(3) non profit organization established in 1981. Its stated mission is to work "for peace, environmental protection, ecological building, social justice, and the development of healthy communities." [1] ADPSR programs promote professional and public awareness of critical social and environmental issues, and the non profit also honors individuals and organizations that "exemplify ADPSR's goals of peace, preservation of the natural and build environment, and socially responsible development" [2] with its annual Lewis Mumford Awards. ADPSR was first established to promote nuclear disarmament and correct the imbalances caused by military excesses overshadowing domestic needs. Throughout the 1980s, the non-profit initiated numerous peace projects including peace parks, conferences, exhibits, and citizen diplomacy exchange programs with the former Soviet Union. [1] ADPSR was honored for this work in 1993 by the American Institute of Architects, which called ADPSR "a strong, resounding voice for social and political justice." [3] Since the 1990s, the organization has focused much of its effort on ecological and socially responsible development. [1]

Contents

Projects

ADPSR has received media attention for its proposal to amend the American Institute of Architects' Code of Ethics. The proposed rule reads, "Members shall not design spaces intended for execution or for torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, including prolonged solitary confinement," [4] citing multiple organizations' identification of prolonged solitary confinement as torture. In December 2014, the AIA rejected this petition to disallow members to design solitary confinement cells, death chambers, and facilities for torture. [5] This rejection, according to Raphael Sperry, President of ADPSR, goes against the AIA's current ethics code which states, "Members should uphold human rights in all their professional endeavors." [6] Helene Combs Dreiling, former president of the AIA, has spoken on behalf of the institute, stating that "The AIA Code of Ethics should not exist to create limitations on the practice by AIA members of specific building types," [7] and that "[the Code] isn’t about what architects build." [8]

This proposal and rejection have sparked a debate to which several publications, including The New York Times , [8] ArchDaily, [9] and Architectural Record , [10] have added their voices. In response to the AIA's rejection, Sperry states, "Is there nothing so odious that the A.I.A. wouldn't step in? ... What about concentration camps? The A.I.A. is basically saying business is more important than human rights. Yes, this is a tough profession. But you don't gain respect by hunkering down in a position of fear. You just dig yourself deeper into a hole." [8]

ADPSR is an NGO in the United Nations program UN-Habitat, whose mission is "to promote socially and environmentally sustainable human settlements development and the achievement of adequate shelter for all." [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solitary confinement</span> Strict form of imprisonment

Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which an incarcerated person lives in a single cell with little or no contact with other people. It is a punitive tool used within the prison system to discipline or separate incarcerated individuals who are considered to be security risks to other incarcerated individuals or prison staff, as well as those who violate facility rules or are deemed disruptive. However, it can also be used as protective custody for incarcerated individuals whose safety is threatened by other prisoners. This is employed to separate them from the general prison population and prevent injury or death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Institute of Architects</span> Professional association for architects

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach programs, and collaborates with other stakeholders in the design and construction industries.

Solitude, also known as social withdrawal, is a state of seclusion or isolation, meaning lack of socialisation. Effects can be either positive or negative, depending on the situation. Short-term solitude is often valued as a time when one may work, think, or rest without disturbance. It may be desired for the sake of privacy. Long-term solitude may stem from soured relationships, loss of loved ones, deliberate choice, infectious disease, mental disorders, neurological disorders such as circadian rhythm sleep disorder, or circumstances of employment or situation.

Psychological punishments are punishments that aim to cause mental pain or discomfort in order to punish an individual. Psychological punishments are usually designed to cause discomfort or pain through creating negative emotions such as humiliation, shame and fear within an individual or by depriving the individual of sensory and/or social stimulation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gohardasht Prison</span> Prison located in Gohardasht, Iran

Gohardasht Prison is a prison in Gohardasht, a town in the northern outskirt of Karaj, approximately 20 km west of Tehran.

White torture, often referred to as white room torture, is a type of psychological torture technique aimed at complete sensory deprivation and isolation. A prisoner is held in a cell, devoid of any color besides white, that is designed to deprive them of all senses and identity.

In the United States, human rights consists of a series of rights which are legally protected by the Constitution of the United States, state constitutions, treaty and customary international law, legislation enacted by Congress and state legislatures, and state referendums and citizen's initiatives. The Federal Government has, through a ratified constitution, guaranteed unalienable rights to its citizens and non-citizens. These rights have evolved over time through constitutional amendments, legislation, and judicial precedent. Along with the rights themselves, the portion of the population which has been granted these rights has been expanded over time. Within the United States, federal courts have jurisdiction over international human rights laws.

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) is a U.S. non-governmental organization committed to engaging people of faith to work together to ensure that the United States does not engage in torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment of anyone, without exceptions. NRCAT's founding principles state that: "Torture violates the basic dignity of the human person that all religions, in their highest ideals, hold dear. It degrades everyone involved -- policy-makers, perpetrators and victims. It contradicts our nation's most cherished ideals. Any policies that permit torture and inhumane treatment are shocking and morally intolerable."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human rights in Burundi</span>

In 2022, Freedom House rated Burundi's human rights at 14 out 100.

Colorado State Penitentiary is a Level V maximum security prison in the U.S. state of Colorado. The facility is part of the state's East Cañon Complex, together with six other state correctional facilities of various security levels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prisoner</span> Person who is deprived of liberty against their will

A prisoner is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement or captivity in a prison, or physical restraint. The term usually applies to one serving a sentence in prison.

Solitary Watch is a web-based project that aims to bring public attention to the widespread use of solitary confinement in the United States. Its mission is to provide the public—as well as practicing attorneys, legal scholars, law enforcement, and people in prison and their families—with a reputable source of unfolding news, original reporting, firsthand accounts, and research on solitary confinement and other harsh prison conditions to generate public debate and policy change.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">T'ruah</span> United States-based human rights organization

T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, often referred to as T'ruah, is a left-wing nonprofit organization of rabbis who act on the Jewish imperative to respect and protect the human rights of all people in North America, Israel, and the Palestinian Territories. Approximately 2,000 American and Canadian rabbis and cantors, very predominantly non-orthodox in denomination, are affiliated with T'ruah. T'ruah was founded as Rabbis for Human Rights-North America (RHR-NA) in 2002. On January 15, 2013, RHR-NA ended its formal affiliation with Rabbis for Human Rights in Israel, and was renamed T'ruah. The name T’ruah is based on one of the sounds of the shofar acting as a call to take action.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Narges Mohammadi</span> Iranian human rights activist (born 1972)

Narges Mohammadi is an Iranian human rights activist. She is the vice president of the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC), headed by her fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Shirin Ebadi. Mohammadi has been a vocal proponent of mass feminist civil disobedience against the hijab in Iran and a vocal critic of the hijab and chastity program of 2023. In May 2016, she was sentenced in Tehran to 16 years' imprisonment for establishing and running "a human rights movement that campaigns for the abolition of the death penalty." She was released in 2020 but sent back to prison in 2021, where she has since given reports of the abuse and solitary confinement of detained women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2013 California prisoner hunger strike</span>

The 2013 California prisoner hunger strike started on July 8, 2013, involving over 29,000 inmates in protest of the state's use of solitary confinement practices and ended on September 5, 2013. The hunger strike was organized by inmates in long term solitary in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) at Pelican Bay State Prison in protest of inmates housed there that were in solitary confinement indefinitely for having supposed gang ties. Another hunger strike that added to the movement started the week before in High Desert State Prison. The focus of the High Desert State Prison hunger strike was to demand cleaner facilities, better food and better access to the library.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tora Prison</span> Egyptian prison complex

Tora Prison is an Egyptian prison complex for criminal and political detainees, located in Tora, Egypt. The complex is situated in front of the Tora El Balad metro station. The main buildings in the Tora Prison complex are Tora Agricultural Prison, Tora Liman, Tora Istiqbal (reception), Tora El Mahkoum and Tora Supermax prison, also known as Scorpion Prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solitary confinement in the United States</span> Form of strict imprisonment in the United States

In the United States penal system, upwards of 20 percent of state and federal prison inmates and 18 percent of local jail inmates are kept in solitary confinement or another form of restrictive housing at some point during their imprisonment. Solitary confinement (sometimes euphemistically called protective custody, punitive segregation (PSEG) or room restriction) generally comes in one of two forms: "disciplinary segregation," in which inmates are temporarily placed in solitary confinement as punishment for rule-breaking; and "administrative segregation," in which prisoners deemed to be a risk to the safety of other inmates, prison staff, or to themselves are placed in solitary confinement for extended periods of time, often months or years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex human rights</span> Human rights for intersex people

Intersex people are born with sex characteristics, such as chromosomes, gonads, or genitals, that, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahmed Mansoor</span> Emirati activist

Ahmed Mansoor Al Shehhi is an Emirati blogger, human rights and reform activist arrested in 2011 for defamation and insults to the heads of state and tried in the UAE Five trial. He was pardoned by UAE's president Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Mansoor was arrested again in March 2017 on charges of using social media platforms to threaten public order and publish false and misleading information. He was found guilty and convicted for threatening state security and given a prison sentence of 10 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imprisonment of Abdullah Öcalan</span> Imprisonment of the leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party in Turkey

Abdullah Öcalan has been imprisoned on İmralı Island in the Sea of Marmara since February 1999. He is serving a life sentence for violating article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code. Initially he was sentenced to death but the conviction was commuted to a life sentence in October 2002.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "ADPSR About Us". Archived from the original on 2015-02-17. Retrieved 2015-02-17.
  2. ↑ "Mumford Award History". Archived from the original on 2015-02-17. Retrieved 2015-02-17.
  3. ↑ "Architects". www.aia.org. Archived from the original on 2019-05-02. Retrieved 2019-06-13.
  4. ↑ "ADPSR Proposed Amendment". Archived from the original on 2015-02-17. Retrieved 2015-02-17.
  5. ↑ Sperry, Raphael (2014-12-23). "Architects and torture: What color is your waterboard?". CNN. Archived from the original on 2018-09-01. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  6. ↑ "AIA Code of Ethics" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-02-24. Retrieved 2015-02-17.
  7. ↑ "AIA Response with Annotations by Raphael Sperry" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-02-18. Retrieved 2015-02-17.
  8. 1 2 3 Kimmelman, Michael (2015-02-16). "Prison Architecture and the Question of Ethics". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2023-01-18. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  9. ↑ Giermann, Holly (2015-01-29). "Architecture & Human Rights: AIA Rejects Controversial Ethics Amendment". ArchDaily. Archived from the original on 2019-08-07. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  10. ↑ Edelson, Zachary (2015-01-20). "AIA Rejects Ethics Amendment". www.architecturalrecord.com. Archived from the original on 2019-05-29. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  11. ↑ "UN-Habitat at a glance – UN-Habitat". Archived from the original on 2019-08-09. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
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