The Just Transition Lobby - A Call to Action

The world is on fire, the oceans are rising, and our institutions are building fun palaces

We have already made history by electing the youngest, first worker, and first Black president, Muyiwa Oki. We must build on this success in order to achieve progressive institutional reform of the RIBA. We, the undersigned, believe that the RIBA Council must represent the interests of the public and of the architectural workers that make up the majority of the architectural profession - rather than capitulate to the interests of powerful industry figures. In particular, the students, associates, and recently qualified architects who comprise a third of total membership have been long underserved and underrepresented in the RIBA Council. Read our previous call to action setting up the rationale for the presidential campaign here.

Currently, there is no formal association of progressive council members in the RIBA. Calls for radical change, even from the President himself, can only go so far without a supportive council advocating (and voting) for such policies. This is why we are inviting you to join the Just Transition Lobby: a new coalition of existing council members and prospective candidates that we are supporting in the upcoming 2023 RIBA Council Elections. We want to develop a strong lobby that can grow over time to influence all built environment institutes. Together, we can take hold of our institutions to drive meaningful action in a time of social and ecological crises.  

Join the lobby and help bring about a Just Transition through the built environment!

What is the Just Transition?

The Just Transition, coined by labour and environmental activist Tony Mazzocchi, refers to the foundational shifts in political economy necessary for our societies to repair and advance the social and ecological conditions upon which the future of life on Earth depends. It is a necessarily expansive view of the political processes required to address the escalating social and ecological crises we are currently living through. As the most recent IPCC Report suggests, “there is a role for everyone” in the transition, and that must therefore include architectural workers, practices, and institutions. What then, might the role of the Royal Institute of British Architects be in a Just Transition? How might such a historic institute best leverage its position and resource to work towards a better world?

Foundational Principles of the Just Transition Lobby

1. The RIBA must leverage its position and resources towards radical climate action in and beyond the built environment. 

1a. End economic greenwashing: the RIBA must acknowledge the fundamental economic failings of the past century and reject the myth of perpetual growth.

1b. Reject ‘business as usual’: the RIBA must advocate for radical legislative action and openly critique ineffective reformism. .

1c. Architects are fossil fuel workers: the RIBA must work towards an economy that facilitates regenerative architectural practice; from retrofit to low-embodied-carbon construction. 

2. The RIBA must endeavour to advance the material and cultural conditions of architectural workers.

2a. End unpaid overtime and overwork: the RIBA must address the professions’ dependence on exploitation in order to improve working conditions, practice fees, and professional standards for all.

2b. Institutional advocacy for workers’ rights: the RIBA must support workers, who make up the majority of its membership, to improve the institute’s relevance to the profession, increase membership, and expand its political influence.

2c. Work with grassroots organisations: the RIBA must acknowledge the limitations of centralised institutions and support those working on the frontlines of social and ecological crises.

3. The RIBA must incorporate Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility as foundational values in all aspects of their work.

3a. No more empty gestures: the RIBA must devolve power to address the intersectional, post-colonial and regional inequities it currently exacerbates.

3b. EDIA is political and spatial: the RIBA must pursue EDIA through a societal and decolonial lens - introducing policies with intent to influence both institutional and political economic conditions.

3c. Accessibility is a choice: participation in the RIBA and wider profession result from choices that have been made - and can be remade differently. The institute must regularly interrogate data on who enters, remains, and thrives in the profession in order to achieve effective standards of accessibility.

Why the RIBA Council and VP Membership?

The RIBA Council is made up of elected individuals who represent different parts of the membership. The chair of the council is the current RIBA President. The RIBA Council has the right to appoint and remove the RIBA Board of Trustees. The Vice-President is a Council member with the remit of representing Chartered Members.  The Council is the key representative body that can enact change and control the work of the Royal Institute of British Architects.

There are 22 seats up for election in the 2023 cycle. We want to make build a sizable lobby of elected Council members who will support the new president and work towards a Just Transition. We want to support those aligned with our principles to run for RIBA Council seats and to support those already running who wish to join the Lobby.

Who is behind the Lobby?

We are a continuation of the 2022 presidential campaign to elect a worker as the next RIBA President.  The previous campaign was primarily led and supported by a wide consortium of organisations and individuals including, in alphabetical order: Abigail Patel, ACAN (climate network), Albena Yaneva, Amy Francis-Smith, Architecture Social, Benjamin Champion, Charlie Edmonds, Chris Simmons, Dani Reed, Daniel Dehghani, Future Architects Front, Hannah Deacon, Henry Pelly, Jake Arnfield, Jason Boyle, Jordan Whitewood-Neal, Lewis North, Maryam Al-Irhayim, Muyiwa Oki, UVW-SAW (workers union), Scott McAulay, Selasi Setufe, Senaka Weeraman, Stephen Drew, Simeon Shtebunaev, Tamara Kahn, Victoria Adegoke and others. 

Muyiwa Oki was elected by 2967 RIBA members, we want to acknowledge their support.

We are an informal network of individuals and organisations, coming together for the specific purpose to lobby for urgent change in the built environment, primarily aiming to shift the internal balance of power in professional institutions.

Voting opens June 19th and closes June 28th.

Voting is for RIBA Chartered Architects only.