ABSTRACT
Architecture has long had a medical model of practice, serving the needs of fee-paying clients, but just as medicine gave birth to public health as a way to address the needs of whole populations, so must architecture do as well, given the millions of people living in inadequate shelter and unsafe settlements. Public health became well-established once it demonstrated the value it creates, and the same need to happen if public-interest architecture is to receive the support it requires to do this work. There is an ethical obligation here, since no profession can ignore the needs of everyone, regardless of their ability to pay.
