In July 2021, the UIA General Assembly declared 2022 the "UIA Year of Design for Health". This commitment urges all UIA Member Sections to encourage architects and their clients to use evidence-based design to promote health in buildings and cities.
The UIA will facilitate a series of initiatives to increase awareness of designing for health, including a digital information hub, an international research agenda and support for the creation of resources to help architects around the world conduct research on healthy environments.
The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of environments in controlling disease, the value of creating safe and healthy spaces for all people and the necessity of using evidence-based research to support design and related policy-making.