The refugees of boom-and-bust

At TEDGlobal U, Cameron Sinclair shows the unreported cost of real estate megaprojects gone bust: thousands of migrant construction laborers left stranded and penniless. To his fellow architects, he says there is only one ethical response.

A few years ago, my eyes were opened

to the dark side of the construction industry.

In 2006, young Qatari students

took me to go and see the migrant worker camps.

And since then I've followed the unfolding issue of worker rights.

In the last six months, more than 300 skyscrapers

in the UAE have been put on hold or canceled.

Behind the headlines that lay behind these buildings

is the fate of the often-indentured construction worker.

1.1 million of them.

Mainly Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan

and Nepalese, these laborers risk everything

to make money for their families back home.

They pay a middle-man thousands of dollars to be there.

And when they arrive, they find themselves in labor camps with no water,

no air conditioning, and their passports taken away.

While it's easy to point the finger at local officials and higher authorities,

99 percent of these people are hired by the private sector,

and so therefore we're equally, if not more, accountable.

Groups like Buildsafe UAE have emerged,

but the numbers are simply overwhelming.

In August 2008,

UAE public officials noted

that 40 percent of the country's 1,098 labor camps

had violated minimum health and fire safety regulations.

And last summer, more than 10,000 workers

protested for the non-payment of wages,

for the poor quality of food, and inadequate housing.

And then the financial collapse happened.

When the contractors have gone bust,

as they've been overleveraged like everyone else,

the difference is everything goes missing,

documentation, passports,

and tickets home for these workers.

Currently, right now, thousands of workers are abandoned.

There is no way back home.

And there is no way, and no proof of arrival.

These are the boom-and-bust refugees.

The question is, as a building professional,

as an architect, an engineer, as a developer,

if you know this is going on,

as we go to the sights every single week,

are you complacent or complicit

in the human rights violations?

So let's forget your environmental footprint.

Let's think about your ethical footprint.

What good is it

to build a zero-carbon, energy efficient complex,

when the labor producing this architectural gem

is unethical at best?

Now, recently I've been told I've been taking the high road.

But, quite frankly, on this issue,

there is no other road.

So let's not forget who is really paying the price of this financial collapse.

And that as we worry about our next job in the office,

the next design that we can get, to keep our workers.

Let's not forget these men, who are truly dying to work.

Thank you.

(Applause)