Fostering Inclusive, Healthy, and Sustainable Design: Preliminary Needs Analysis from an EU–Latin America Educational Collaboration

This paper presents preliminary findings from the E-DALIAS project (Educación para el Diseño Arquitectónico Latinoamericano de Ambientes Inclusivos y Saludables), which aims to strengthen architectural education in Latin America by promoting inclusive, healthy, and sustainable design. Connecting academic institutions in Denmark, Italy, and Spain with partners in Chile and Colombia, the project supports knowledge transfer and regional capacity-building. A preliminary needs analysis revealed significant gaps in current curricula and professional practice, particularly regarding universal accessibility, sensory inclusion, and climate-adaptive design. It also highlighted inconsistencies between accessibility policies and their enforcement, affecting vulnerable populations. These insights confirm the urgency of reorienting architectural education toward an integrated and context-sensitive model. E-DALIAS addresses this by developing an interdisciplinary educational framework informed by EU best practices. Aligned with the European Green Deal and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the project offers a replicable strategy for embedding inclusion and sustainability into architectural training in Latin America.