In June 2026 ASF-UK delivered the Rights Through Architecture workshop at Goldsmiths, University of London as part of the funded “Rights Through” workshop series, which explored human rights through creative practices such as Theatre, Film, Food and Architecture. Each workshop brought together academics, students, practitioners and community networks to examine lived experiences of rights violations in rethinking core rights concepts through specific artistic and creative methods.
The workshop series project responds to a challenge in human rights education, that is in the need for more innovative, participatory and inclusive approaches that meaningfully engage students and communities beyond universities.
ASF UK’s contribution invited to explore rights not as abstract legal concepts but as lived, spatial and unevenly distributed realities. It examined how architecture and planning are never neutral: they shape access, exclusion and recognition within the built environment. Drawing on Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, discussions focused on how the right to adequate housing extends beyond physical shelter to include security of tenure, location, dignity and cultural belonging.
Through critical reflection and design-based activities, participants considered questions such as: Where can bodies go? Under what conditions can they remain? Who is made visible or invisible through the spaces we create? Together, participants explored how the built environment shapes everyday experience and how architecture and spatial practice can foster inclusion, belonging and representation.
Who was involved
The series was led by Goldsmiths, University of London Academics’ Yaprak Yildiz (Sociology) and Natalie Katsou (Theatre and Performance and Law), and participants and beneficiaries include people with experiences of forced migration, LGBTQ+ communities, communities in Lewisham, Goldsmiths’ students, arts practitioners, human rights practitioners and academic staff.
What’s next for the ASF-UK
This collaboration reflects ASF-UK's commitment to advancing architecture as a tool for social justice through partnerships that connect practice, education and research. As Goldsmiths develops its emerging Centre for Rights, Arts and Social Change, ASF UK looks forward to building on this collaboration and exploring new opportunities to engage with rights through architecture and spatial practice.
