The American Institute of Architects has released a statement urging action on a number of key priorities related to architecture and the built environment for the 2024 presidential elections following Tuesday’s debate between candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
"Architects across the country are keen to see greater progress toward key goals related to the built environment and our businesses," 2024 AIA President Kimberly Dowdell says in a preface to the seven-point agenda. "Our top election priorities highlight critical issues including the need for increased investment in affordable housing, aggressive climate action measures, enhanced resiliency against natural disasters and sound tax policies."
"[The] AIA calls on the candidates as well as the incoming new Congress to listen to architects as experts on the forefront of designing a more sustainable future," her statement continues. "Through these priorities, AIA’s members will continue to move the built environment forward."
Among them, Housing; Climate Action; Resiliency; Taxes; Contract Parity and "design freedom" for Federal projects; Student Loans; and the need for better Historic Preservation all were listed as concerns for both the Congress and the Administrative branch. The AIA feels they will lead to improved business conditions and the removal of professional barriers for architects, among other outcomes.
Previous advocacy by the organization has already led to AIA-approved revisions to fee limitations for federal design and construction projects. Both Harris and Trump have positioned housing affordability as a primary point of their platforms. The issue was also mentioned by former President Barack Obama last month in his call for a "housing revolution" at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
5 Comments
Maybe add a living wage for architects?
As a retired architect I find it amazing how conservative "everything" has occurred in America. When I was going through arch school in the mid '70s we were all thinking about energy conservation after the Middle East oil takeover, price increases, and associated factors. Here we are 50 years and very little of real substance has occurred in "environmental architecture." Then along comes a genius like Donald Trump who wants to kill the profession altogether. Let's see. All federal buildings will have neo-classical architecture design? Absolute genius! Even Frank Lloyd Wright would be kissing the Trump ring for federal design! Right! Let's go back to the model-T car and use that as our base for automobile design. What a genius idea! Trump, baby, where have you been all these years? I can't wait for you to be president again so we can stop civilized progress and `we can all together roll into your black hole. Again, you are a genius!
That's not black hole. That's brown hole.
This is pretty talk from the AIA, but will there be any action? Spending lobbying dollars on politicians is how things get done in DC. Unless the AIA is going to do that, this agenda isn't going to happen.
The AIA should stick to helping people that pay membership dues, not go into overarching, vacuous statements
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