In 2010, intense monsoon rains caused widespread flooding in the Khyber, Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan areas of Pakistan, uprooting millions of residents and resulting in almost 800,000 sq km of the country’s land area being pushed underwater.

An initiative in the Punjab region that has seen architects partner with various communities to teach them the skills to rebuild their lives has been recognised with the 2012 IAP Award for Excellence in Architectural Design. Resettling the Indus is an empowering initiative that enables local residents to support themselves by learning a new skill whilst building their community up again.

The organisation explains: “To design for a people and place is not a ‘job’ reserved only for the architect or the engineer…a sustaining design requires a body of people that collectively strive towards a holistic outcome, worthy to serve as a solution for the lives of people.”