Rights of Future Generations

The current ecological crisis is, at its most fundamental level, the consequence of a single, extractive perspective that has come to dominate all other forms of life and coexistence. As the process that gives material substance to social formations, architecture has often contributed to this state of things, internalizing and reproducing the positions of the privileged social groups it serves. Yet architecture retains a latent potential to imagine, propose, and rehearse possible alternatives. After all, human history has furnished us with countless examples of different social orders, and of relationships between humans and other beings that evolved according to non-exploitative beliefs and commitments. The inaugural Sharjah Architecture Triennial, titled Rights of Future Generations, looks for surviving conditions of struggle, emancipation, and experimentation from around the world. This book presents some of these conditions, compiled by the artists, architects and theorists that participate in the Triennial. From trade networks in the Indian Ocean, to unstable landownership in the Ganges Delta, to the interplay of gender norms and interior architecture in Iran's public housing, the essays help us imagine what is possible beyond the existing arrangement of things.