More than 50 percent of the more than 32.5 million refugees worldwide are children, many of whom have experienced trauma and are spending five or more years in encampments. Helping to heal trauma in refugee children through portable play structures is the focus of the joint BSA- Boston Society for Landscape Architects (BSLA) Knowledge Community, the Global Design Initiative for Refugee Children Knowledge Community (GDIRC). Recently, the GDIRC co-hosted a design charrette with the Massachusetts College of Art and Design to explore how they can more deeply consider the psychological and emotional needs of refugee children in designs for portable play structures they are building for asylum seekers.

Less than one percent of real estate developers in the U.S. are Black or Latino. The BSA is working to change that.

Want to see Boston through a whole new lens? Experience the Charles Riverboat Company’s architecture cruise, and learn about Boston’s architectural history while getting a view of the city you can’t get anywhere else.