ABSTRACT
Lizzie Babister is an architect now working as a Humanitarian Advisor with the Department for International Development in the United Kingdom. In a previous position with CARE UK, Lizzie led the emergency shelter and reconstruction programme for CARE International, which responded to a wide range of emergencies, including Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh in 2007, Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar in 2008, the Padang earthquake in Indonesia in 2009, the Haiti earthquake in 2010 and the Pakistan floods in 2010. The interviews and supporting essays show built environment professionals collaborating with post-disaster communities as facilitators, collaborators and negotiators of land, space and shelter, rather than as 'save the world' modernists, as often portrayed in the design media. The goal is social and physical reconstruction, as a collaborative process involving a damaged community and its local culture, environment and economy; not just shelter 'projects' that 'build' houses but leave no economic footprint or longer-term community infrastructure.
