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Bauhaus Earth Charter for the City and the Earth
Toward Re-Entanglement: A Charter for the City and the Earth is a global call to action for the healthy and regenerative re-connection of human activity with the Earth’s natural systems. The history of humankind has seen the accelerating urbanization of the globe, propagating the relentless extraction of planetary resources. The ecological and social impacts of conventional construction methods have been, are, and will be devastating – only a complete systemic overhaul of the built environment will prevent a global climate catastrophe. By switching to regenerative design and bio-based materials, cities can act as carbon sinks and create equitable development opportunities. This transformation must happen now.
Update: In July 2024, the Charter was reworked and published by JOVIS Verlag. Find the updated charter here!
© Xu Tiantian
What we must do
The Charter consists of twelve principles of "re-entanglement" guide the redesign of the entire life cycle of the urban realm: the reforming and re-materializing of the physical artefacts that comprise it, the re-configuring of the socioeconomic structures that underpin it, and the re-engaging of the bioregions that might sustainably supply it. In this way, the unprecedented convergence of the environmental and social crises we are causing offers powerful opportunities for systemic change.
1. Invest in nature.
2. Expand the system boundaries of design and governance, and the temporal and spatial scales of our agency.
3. Enhance rather than deplete biodiversity.
4. Sink carbon by construction.
5. Capture natural energy rather than extracting fossil fuels.
6. Question why we build and what we build with and prioritize the reuse of existing buildings and material.
7. Build dense and poly-centric cities to restore urban community and regional wildlands.
8. Provide homes for all people to build social equity, economic livelihood, and shared respect for our common resources.
9. Make public space the essential infrastructure of cities and the site of sociopolitical discourse and innovation.
10. Empower rural communities and engage the traditional knowledge and practices of Indigenous peoples and non-Western cultures.
11. Welcome new urban citizens.
12. Redefine beauty by building with love and compassion for humans and non-humans alike.
Become a signatory of the Charter.
Outcomes of the Charter
In recognition of the dire threat of climate collapse and global mass extinction, the signatories of the Charter commit to the systemic transformation of buildings and cities to re-balance nature’s health.
Click here for the full list of signatories.
Download the Charter in multiple languages:
Toward Re-Entanglement: A Charter for the City and the Earth (English, 2024)
Für eine Wiederverflechtung: Eine Charta für Stadt und Erde (German, 2024)
Vers le ré-enchevêtrement: Une charte pour la ville et la terre (French, 2022)
Hacia el re-entrelazamiento: una carta para las ciudades y la tierra (Spanish, 2022)
ميثاق للمدينة وللأرض :من أجل إعادة الترابط (Arabic, 2022)
The Charter for the City and the Earth was initiated by Bauhaus Earth and authored by seventeen scientists, architects, spatial planners, and policy makers from around the world. It was launched at the Reconstructing the Future Conference at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Vatican/Rome, in June 2022.
The first book published by Bauhaus Earth, Reconstructing the Future: Cities as Carbon Sinks, was based on the discussions and presentations of this conference. The projects presented in the book demonstrate how the built environment and the actors within it can begin to follow the principles of re-entaglement.
In addition, Bauhaus Earth and its partners developed a concrete set of actions and policies which can make the vision of our Charter a reality. Read the Barcelona Protocol here.