Safeguarding Vernacular Cultural Heritage and Local Knowledge for Resilient Housing

Too often, solutions to the global housing crisis in hazard-prone areas overlook local cultural practices, traditional architectural knowledge, and the intangible heritage that define communities when planning urban settlements. Standardized designs may provide shelter, but they risk erasing the history, identity, and knowledge systems that have sustained human settlements for centuries. Cultural heritage, including vernacular housing, faces growing risks from natural hazards. Ignoring heritage and local knowledge in housing policies and urban planning makes communities vulnerable, reduces maintenance, lowers acceptance, and undermines long-term resilience. This discussion is timely as cities implement the New Urban Agenda and climate adaptation commitments through locally grounded and socially inclusive disaster risk reduction strategies. It will explore how engineering solutions and heritage conservation can be coupled to promote disaster-resilient, culturally meaningful housing, highlighting how vernacular housing, traditional planning practices, and time-tested materials can strengthen resilience and preserve urban identity. In doing so, it supports SDG 11, SDG 13, and SDG 8. The session starts with 20-minute Lightning Talks, featuring 3–4 short, visually engaging presentations on post-disaster reconstruction, vernacular housing, policy innovation, or community-led initiatives. Participants then join 30-minute facilitator-led Breakout Clusters to discuss challenges and solutions in traditional materials, low-emission construction, community-led and indigenous design, policy and financing, and gender and inclusion, and post 2–3 key takeaways on integrating cultural heritage into resilient housing. A 10-minute moderator summary highlights pathways for culturally grounded, inclusive, disaster-resilient housing and showcases approaches to strengthen community resilience. Objectives are: Demonstrate the value of integrating vernacular cultural heritage into resilient housing design in hazard-prone urban settings; Promote elements of vernacular architecture that inform modern resilient housing; Explore synergies between engineers & heritage professionals in safeguarding both lives and cultural continuity; Highlight policies and practices that protect cultural heritage while addressing the urgent housing needs; Identify replicable recommendations that cities and institutions can apply in post-disaster reconstruction & climate adaptation programs.