"Globalisation from the Bottom Up"
Annual Conference 2009

6th Annual Conference
5 February 2009, St. James's Palace, London

The conference examined issues associated with globalisation and sought to identify better ways of meeting the aspirations of the burgeoning urban populations of the Global South and establishing settlements that are liveable, resilient and founded upon local culture and building traditions.

HRH The Prince of Wales, President of The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment, and Hank Dittmar, Chief Executive, joined speakers from around the world. The speakers highlighted the importance of distinctive and sensitive development, which respects indigenous culture and tradition and builds upon and strengthens a sense of place and community. They also demonstrated how this approach creates opportunities, by capitalising upon the strengths and assets of individual communities and spoke about individual communities which have been successfully revitalised in this way.

“The Prince’s Foundation believes that working with local communities to demonstrate the importance and value of place and local particularities, in both new developments and regeneration, can assist revitalisation, whether in rapidly urbanising parts of the Global South or in booming cities. We believe that a sense of place is derived from buildings and public spaces that respect local climate and landscape, embody local history and use indigenous materials, craftsmanship and design. We work with local people to identify these characteristics in order to distil and articulate what we call the “DNA” of a place, in order to build new places, which reflect and replicate that DNA. Our approach seeks to evolve and adapt vernacular design, learning from what has worked well in the past and mixing it with the best the twenty first century can offer.”

The conference highlighted communities that have followed this approach and showed that they tend to be more robust, both socially and economically, and better equipped to realize a thriving future together.

One of the consequences of today’s globalised culture is a growing “architecture of anywhere” which makes everywhere look the same. This is another manifestation of the ways in which vulnerable communities are being cut off from their roots and culture, with the attendant risks of fragmentation and dislocation.

While some might argue that homogeneity is inevitable, given the needs and circumstances of the world’s poorest communities, The Prince’s Foundation does, however, believe it is possible to meet the needs and aspirations of individual communities in ways that reflect local culture and ways of building.

The Prince’s Foundation also maintains that cultural and social diversity are valuable assets in their own right and are important drivers of opportunity and enterprise. Places with a strong and distinct identity are differentiated, which helps them generate and sustain social and intellectual capital, the bedrock of sustainable development.

Please see below for links to presentations by our speakers, who discussed their work in Afghanistan, Egypt, India and Jamaica:

NOTE: Use the player featured below to select the desired video or to automatically play the videos sequentially from the loaded playlist. Videos can also be watched individually on YouTube using the links below each speaker's name.
Longer speeches have been split into sections of 10 mins or less, and are indicated as 'Part 1 of 2', etc.

Videos from the event

Slideshows from the event

Introduction
Mr Hank Dittmar, Chief Executive, The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment

Introduction: Part 1 of 2 - Watch video on YouTube [9:31 mins]
Introduction: Part 2 of 2 - Watch video on YouTube [5.47 mins]

Introduction: Download the presentation  [4.6 Mb]

Keynote speech: 'The challenges facing informal settlements’
Mr Jockin Arputham, Founder, National Slum Dwellers Federation of India (NSDF)

Part 1 of 6 - Watch video on YouTube [10:32 mins]
Part 2 of 6 - Watch video on YouTube [9:52 mins]
Part 3 of 6 - Watch video on YouTube [10:01 mins]
Part 4 of 6 - Watch video on YouTube [8:59 mins]
Part 5 of 6 - Watch video on YouTube [6:14 mins]
Part 6 of 6 - Watch video on YouTube [9:07 mins]

Presentations to demonstrate the underlying themes of The Prince’s Foundation’s work:

Rose Town, Kingston, Jamaica
Mr Michael Black, President, The Rose Town Benevolent Society

Watch video on YouTube [7:23 mins]

Download the presentation  [6.9 Mb]

Al Azhar Park and Darb al Ahmar, Cairo, Egypt
Dr Stefano Bianca, Director, Historic Cities Support Programme, The Aga Khan Trust for Culture

Watch video on YouTube [8:09 mins]

Download the presentation  [2.9 Mb]

Murad Khane, Kabul, Afghanistan
Mr Sayed Zabihullah Majidi, Head of Architecture, The Turquoise Mountain Foundation

Watch video on YouTube [5:28 mins]

Download the presentation  [4.3 Mb]

Chowkri Modikhana, Jaipur, India
Mrs Faith Singh, Founder Trustee, Jaipur Virasat Foundation

Watch video on YouTube [6:19 mins]

Download the presentation  [1.6 Mb]

Address by HRH The Prince of Wales

Read a transcript of the speech

Part 1 of 2 - Watch the video on YouTube [8:39 mins]
Part 2 of 2 - Watch the video on YouTube [5:10 mins]