They met in Chicago in 1984 to set up a national organization which would vigorously articulate the concern that proliferation of nuclear weapons was unacceptable, especially with the negative economic consequences this had for social programs and urban development initiatives. What was desperately needed at the time, as both AIDS and homelessness were spreading like epidemics, was affordable housing for disadvantaged people. For several years, however, ADPSR chose to focus only on disarmament, adding chapters in almost a dozen U.S. cities and regions. One noteworthy project of this period was the Chicago Chapter's bus poster campaign which vividly brought our perspective to the attention of people there.

In 1986, ADPSR and the Soviet Union of Architects organized a bilateral exhibition to explore the meaning of "socially responsible architecture and design." This ambitious program led to a US-USSR traveling exhibit which was widely seen in both countries in the late 1980s.

Then, at the 1987 Brighton Congress of the International Union of Architects, all delegates were invited to form an independent international group asking all nuclear nations to seek peace and cease piling up weapons of mass destruction. That is when International Architects Designers Planners for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IADPPNW) came into being, with its headquarters in Stockholm.

By November, 1989, IADPPNW had developed sufficiently to hold a joint conference with the Czechoslovak Union of Architects on the role that militarism plays in limiting both social and environmental development. Coincidentally, while the delegates were meeting in Prague, the Berlin Wall came tumbling down bringing an end to the Cold War.

As the 1990s began, a broadened base of discussion and advocacy emerged for ADPSR in the United States. Chapters began to set up committees to talk about environmental issues and to address housing needs. This new opening lead to enthusiastic expansion, including the establishment of an institute for the study of sustainable living in Southern California and the beginning of a decade-long commitment to lively environmental advocacy by our Northern California Chapter.

The concern for peaceful resolution of global conflicts remained a primary motivation for ADPSR, nonetheless. Meeting just a few days after the 1991 Iraq War had begun, the ADPSR National Board sent the Bush White House a letter of protest.

In addition, in cooperation with IADPPNW (which in 1990 changed its name to ARCPeace International) ADPSR became part of the United Nations Department of Public Information's program for non-governmental organizations. Its members have taken active part in U.N. conferences in Rio (on Environment and Development, Earth Summit, 1992), in Copenhagen (World Summit on Social Development, 1995), and in Istanbul (on Human Settlements, Habitat II, 1996).

Education in socially responsible design and planning has always been on the ADPSR agenda. In the mid 1980s, the NY Chapter's Schools Committee held an annual student design competition which focused on peaceful uses for urban spaces. By 1988, even Soviet students were taking part and the winning projects were shown in both countries. Today, ADPSR is represented in schools of architecture all over the nation, and participating in Ball State University's programs on environmentally responsive design education, among others.