World Architecture Day 2024: Mobilizing the Next Generation for Urban Transformation

This year’s focus is also on the evolving urban landscape that necessitates innovative practices to accommodate and engage diverse groups, including children, in a meaningful way. Exploring how urban spaces can be designed to serve as educational and recreational venues, the discussions will delve into integrating elements that enhance child-friendly community spaces. Emerging practices in urban planning and design are beginning to prioritize these considerations, showing promising strategies for inclusive engagement with all demographic subsets, further empowering the voices of young and future architects.

Under the theme of “Empowering the Next Generation to Participate in Urban Design,” we have selected below a compilation of articles written by our editors, exploring themes such as the design of spaces that cater to children, the introduction of play in urban spaces, adaptations that aim to cater t the diverse needs of various groups, promoting inclusivity and accessibility for all. The selection also highlights the contributions of New Practices, emerging offices selected by ArchDaily in 2024 as part of its ongoing effort to promote the next generation of architects and designers, offering them a platform to showcase their unique visions.

Engaging the Next Generation

The Design of Learning Spaces: Architecture as a Teaching Tool

Empowering Children Through Public Spaces in Lebanon: In Conversation with CatalyticAction

How to Build Public Spaces for Teen Girls

Libraries for Children: Dynamism, Flexibility, and Adaptability in Interiors

10 Actions to Improve Streets for Children

Promoting Playful Participation

Affordable Play: 4 Examples of Low-Budget Community Playgrounds

Placemaking through Play: Designing for Urban Enjoyment

Playful Cities: 7 Public Projects Designed for Fun

Design for Inclusivity

How Do the 7 Principles of Universal Design Help Us Create Better Architecture?

Architecture Tailored for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Community: Gallaudet University’s DeafSpace Principles

The Curb Cut Effect: How Accessible Architecture is Benefiting Everybody

World Autism Day: 5 Projects Crafted for Differently-Abled Bodies

Highlighting the Impact of Emerging Designers

How Roofscapes’ Paris Pilot Project is Pioneering Climate-Resilient Architecture in Europe

Estudio Rare: An Architecture of Experimentation Through Art

“Make Universal Unique”: WoHo Systems’ Approach to Prefabrication, Sustainability, and Adaptable Design

Crafting Communities Through Architecture: Inside IDK’s Collaborative Design Practice

Reversing Design Order through Material Recycling: An Interview with RUÍNA Architecture

Explore ArchDaily’s previous editions: World Architecture Day 2023, World Architecture Day 2022, World Architecture Day 2021, and ArchDaily’s World Architecture Day 2020.