The Royal Danish Academy - Architecture, Design, Conservation

The partnership between the Royal Academy — Architecture, Design, Conservation has been ongoing since 2016 and has evolved over the years in both breadth and depth. In 2025, the partnership took the next step onthe journey towards creating a more diverse view of people in architecture and design.

The ambition of the partnership up to 2030 is to promote inclusion and diversity in society by actively using architecture and design as a lever to create an inclusive and equitable framework for communities for all people and bodies in the built environment.

This is done, among other things, by ensuring that all graduates of the design and architecture programmes are introduced to the latest theories and methods in universal design and at the same time that they gain concrete experience of working with a diverse view of people and inclusive and equal communities in architecture and design projects.

Among other things, the Royal Academy works closely with several of the Foundation's other partners — the Association of Young People with Disabilities and DTU, with whom the partnership has developed several courses and workshops. It's unfolded more in the video here and below.

‍Solving a community task
In recent years, at the societal level, we have seen an increase in disaffection and loneliness, while we are getting older and older, which is changing the demographics. The need for inclusive and equitable frameworks for community is therefore increasing. At the same time, the ambitions of the partnership are fully in line with Denmark's commitments in both the UN Convention on Disability, the transversal agenda of the World Goals LeaveNo One Behind and the principles of the Copenhagen Lessons from the UIA Congress of Architects in 2023, which made it clear that there is no beauty in exclusion.

Knowledge of universal design is central to the work, and this is precisely the task for which the partnership has been working purposefully and strategically since 2016. This is done through research and education, as described in more detail below, and through concrete initiatives and collaborations with others.

Need for bridge building
However, although there is growing interest in the agendas that have been a mainstay of the partnership from the start, there is still a need to bridge the gap topractice. Therefore, collaborators have been invited to participate in the work to translate knowledge into practice.

Below you can see and follow past and future initiatives, activities and research in the partnership.

‍