Building a better future: how can architecture help make a better world?

Suitable for 14-19-year olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom, art and design clubs and at home.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5 design.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks:
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• This teaching resource explains the work of Dr Lisa Landrum, an architect at Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada. She is encouraging architecture students to design buildings that promote social and environmental justice and to develop an architectural policy for Canada.

• This resource also contains an interview with Lisa and offers an insight into careers in architecture. If your students have questions for Lisa, they can send them to her online through the Futurum Careers website.

• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on Lisa’s research and challenges them to explore how architecture influences their life.

This resource was first published by Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

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