Joëlle Chaftari

Joëlle Chaftari is an architect and researcher who holds a doctorate and a master’s degree in engineering from the University of Tokyo (Department of Architecture), where she held a scholarship throughout her academic career.

During her seven years in Japan, she developed a research practice grounded in the analysis of regional geographies and territorial dynamics. As part of her laboratory work, she contributed to field research on territorial revitalisation in rural Japanese contexts. Her master’s thesis examined the spatial, climatic and social qualities of the engawa – the intermediate platforms of Japanese dwellings – and their contemporary transformations.

Her doctoral work, at the interface of geography, urban planning and disaster risk reduction (DRR), examines how territorial specificities, in interaction with social and cultural factors, shape population movements in times of crisis. Through a multi-scalar approach, she studied the capacity of certain mountain configurations, used as places of refuge, to form resilient refuge spaces, highlighting the role of self-sufficiency and community dynamics as determining factors.

She has close to ten years of experience in architecture and urban design and, in recent years, has been developing her own practice. Her approach rests on a close reading of territorial, climatic and environmental contexts, and seeks to combine analytical rigour with sensitivity to natural conditions, climate and materiality.