Building Differently: How Traditional Knowledge Is Reshaping Sustainable Cities

As cities race to decarbonise, a critical resource is being overlooked: the accumulated intellectual infrastructure embedded in traditional building knowledge, local materials, and indigenous design practices.

This session presents the Qatar Foundation and King's Foundation partnership, a live multi-country programme piloting traditional knowledge-led urban development in focus areas;Tanzania, Guyana, Sierra Leone and India. Specialists from both organisations will share evidence from the ground: how vernacular systems, locally sourced materials, and community-rooted construction methods are delivering climate-resilient, low-carbon, and socially cohesive outcomes in rapidly urbanising contexts.

The session will invite dialogue on how cities and policymakers can systematically integrate traditional knowledge into planning frameworks, moving it from a static symbolistic gestures to rethinking resilience and climate action.

Key questions: How do we scale what communities already know? What institutional partnerships unlock this potential? And how do cities in the Global South lead, rather than follow, the next generation of sustainable urban design?