Presidential: the architects want to place the public interest at the heart of the creation of the living environment of the French people

Faced with the triple structural crisis that threatens our society - environmental crisis, social crisis and resource crisis - the Order of Architects pleads for strong public strategies and reveals the role of architecture as a lever for a socio-environmental transition. of our country.

From 2050, the rise in sea level on the coast will impact at least 1,4 million French people; in 2100, we will count at least 20 days of deadly heat waves per year; 2 French municipalities out of 3 are affected by a natural risk: all realities that show the vulnerability of our territories. Without waiting until 2050, poor housing is already undermining our society: 12 million people suffer from it, even though the collective housing produced over the past 20 years has greatly lost in quality (-15% surface area on average). Our living environments are weakened as never before by the combined effects of a dual environmental and social crisis, to which is added a deep resource crisis, accelerated by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

We are all concerned.

Faced with these emergencies, the Order of Architects intends to defend a new model, and put forward concrete responses to guarantee a better quality of life for our fellow citizens.

For Christine Leconte, President of the National Council of the Order of Architects: “architectural creation provides solutions at the service of inhabitants and the planet, which have hitherto been insufficiently exploited by public decision-makers. By designing buildings that respond to new climatic constraints, by renaturing the soil, by renovating with respect for heritage, by systematically considering development in connection with society, architecture becomes a major and territorialized economic lever. These solutions must now be heard and applied because the time has come for action. »

Advocacy structured around 5 strong issues and 16 measures

By revealing the advocacy “Habitats, Cities, Territories. Architecture as a solution » a few weeks before the presidential and legislative deadlines, the Order of Architects is proposing a program structured around 5 main axes and 16 measures:

• Strengthen the territories, to allow a better balanced development, in particular by strengthening the public service of architecture and the "1 mayor, 1 architect" system, and through the sanctuary of agricultural land and natural spaces;
• Move from a housing policy to a housing policy, in particular by raising the minimum quality criteria for housing and by creating a Ministry of State in charge of Housing, the Living Environment and Regional Planning ;
• Repair the city by giving priority to rehabilitation, for example via an intensification of public aid for renovation, in particular for studies;
• Change our practices in the face of climate change, in particular by stopping the urbanization of areas at major risk and by aiming for energy sobriety to mitigate our impact on this change;
• Decarbonize construction by developing new material sectors and reuse, to set up an architecture in short circuits and encourage a local agro-industry at the service of a healthier and more ecological living environment.

This advocacy is designed as a tool at the service of elected officials to reveal to them the know-how of the 30 architects who work throughout the territory, and to show them the wealth of resources available to act now: 000 million vacant homes , wasteland to convert, deposits of renewable raw materials that consume less energy and pollute less to exploit, etc. The Order of Architects, notably via its regional councils, will present this advocacy to local decision-makers, from which they will be able to draw practical solutions in support of ambitious local strategies.