assignment meaning cambridge

• Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Meaning of assignment in English

Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio

• It was a jammy assignment - more of a holiday really.
• He took this award-winning photograph while on assignment in the Middle East .
• His two-year assignment to the Mexico office starts in September .
• She first visited Norway on assignment for the winter Olympics ten years ago.
• He fell in love with the area after being there on assignment for National Geographic in the 1950s.
• act as something
• all work and no play (makes Jack a dull boy) idiom
• be at work idiom
• be in work idiom
• housekeeping
• in the line of duty idiom
• undertaking

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

assignment | American Dictionary

Assignment | business english, examples of assignment, collocations with assignment.

These are words often used in combination with assignment .

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

Translations of assignment

Get a quick, free translation!

Word of the Day

height above sea level

Keeping up appearances (Talking about how things seem)

Learn more with +Plus

• Recent and Recommended {{#preferredDictionaries}} {{name}} {{/preferredDictionaries}}
• Definitions Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English English Learner’s Dictionary Essential British English Essential American English
• Grammar and thesaurus Usage explanations of natural written and spoken English Grammar Thesaurus
• Pronunciation British and American pronunciations with audio English Pronunciation
• English–Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Simplified)–English
• English–Chinese (Traditional) Chinese (Traditional)–English
• English–Dutch Dutch–English
• English–French French–English
• English–German German–English
• English–Indonesian Indonesian–English
• English–Italian Italian–English
• English–Japanese Japanese–English
• English–Norwegian Norwegian–English
• English–Polish Polish–English
• English–Portuguese Portuguese–English
• English–Spanish Spanish–English
• English–Swedish Swedish–English
• Dictionary +Plus Word Lists
• on assignment
• American    Noun
• Collocations
• Translations
• All translations

To add assignment to a word list please sign up or log in.

Add assignment to one of your lists below, or create a new one.

{{message}}

Something went wrong.

There was a problem sending your report.

• More from M-W
• To save this word, you'll need to log in. Log In

Definition of assignment

task , duty , job , chore , stint , assignment mean a piece of work to be done.

task implies work imposed by a person in authority or an employer or by circumstance.

duty implies an obligation to perform or responsibility for performance.

job applies to a piece of work voluntarily performed; it may sometimes suggest difficulty or importance.

chore implies a minor routine activity necessary for maintaining a household or farm.

stint implies a carefully allotted or measured quantity of assigned work or service.

assignment implies a definite limited task assigned by one in authority.

Examples of assignment in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'assignment.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

see assign entry 1

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing assignment

• self - assignment

Dictionary Entries Near assignment

Cite this entry.

“Assignment.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/assignment. Accessed 30 May. 2024.

Legal Definition

Legal definition of assignment, more from merriam-webster on assignment.

Nglish: Translation of assignment for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of assignment for Arabic Speakers

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Can you solve 4 words at once?

Word of the day.

See Definitions and Examples »

Get Word of the Day daily email!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

More commonly misspelled words, commonly misspelled words, how to use em dashes (—), en dashes (–) , and hyphens (-), absent letters that are heard anyway, how to use accents and diacritical marks, popular in wordplay, pilfer: how to play and win, the words of the week - may 24, 9 superb owl words, 10 words for lesser-known games and sports, your favorite band is in the dictionary, games & quizzes.

Definition of 'assignment'

assignment in British English

Assignment in american english, examples of 'assignment' in a sentence assignment, cobuild collocations assignment, trends of assignment.

View usage for: All Years Last 10 years Last 50 years Last 100 years Last 300 years

Browse alphabetically assignment

• assigned randomly
• assigned risk
• assimilability
• assimilable
• All ENGLISH words that begin with 'A'

Related terms of assignment

• seat assignment
• tough assignment
• writing assignment
• challenging assignment
• difficult assignment
• View more related words

Quick word challenge

Quiz Review

Score: 0 / 5

Wordle Helper

Scrabble Tools

Programmes & Qualifications

Understanding command words.

Command words tell you how to answer a specific exam question or complete an assessment task. Below we list the command words you will see in new and revised syllabuses published from 2019 onwards. The command words published in the syllabus will be in exam and assessment materials from 2022 onwards.

The definitions will help you understand what the words are asking you to do. Any subject-specific command words will also be listed in the syllabus. The list does not include simple instruction words like write, circle or find .

• Syllabus overview
• Past papers, examiner reports and specimen papers
• Published resources

Gen Z isn't lazy — young people just have a different idea of what work means, says Cambridge professor

• Cambridge University professor Thomas Roulet has hit back at the idea that Gen Z is lazy.
• He said younger people just have a different idea about what work means to them.
• JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said people shouldn't "feel so bad" for Gen Z and millennials this week.

Gen Z is often called lazy — but a Cambridge University professor thinks younger people just have a different idea about what work means.

Thomas Roulet , who teaches organizational sociology and leadership at the Judge Business School, defended the generation's work ethic in a video posted on the university's YouTube channel.

"All generations have been saying that younger generations are lazier at work — allegedly, even Socrates said that," he said, referring to the Greek philosopher's belief that the children of his day were vain and lazy. "If we look at motivational drivers, research shows that across generations, motivational drivers are the same."

Related stories

Roulet added: "The expectations toward work have changed. Younger generations want growth, purpose, and, at the same time, a work-life balance — and organizations have to rise to meet those demands."

"The third element is the economic context. While a job 30 or 20 years ago would have provided further security, this is not necessarily the case, and it doesn't, for example, help younger generations get on the property ladder."

Roulet's comments are in conflict to some degree with the views advanced by several top executives including JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon.

The billionaire said at the bank's investor day this week that he had little sympathy for younger generations because they had better life expectancy and were likely to work fewer hours.

"I don't feel so bad for Gen Z and millennials," Dimon said, adding that his grandparents were Greek immigrants who arrived in the US with nothing but "a shirt on their back."

"Let's put things in perspective a little bit," the Wall Street titan added. "They're going to be working probably 3.5 days a week. They're going to live to 100. They're not going to have cancer. They're going to be in pretty good shape, provided the world doesn't destroy it all with nuclear weapons, which is the biggest risk in the world ."

Watch: How Gen Z will change the workplace, according to LinkedIn's CMO

• Main content

Suggestions or feedback?

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Machine learning
• Social justice
• Black holes
• Classes and programs

Departments

• Aeronautics and Astronautics
• Brain and Cognitive Sciences
• Architecture
• Political Science
• Mechanical Engineering

Centers, Labs, & Programs

• Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)
• Picower Institute for Learning and Memory
• Lincoln Laboratory
• School of Architecture + Planning
• School of Engineering
• School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
• Sloan School of Management
• School of Science
• MIT Schwarzman College of Computing

Commencement address by Noubar Afeyan PhD ’87

Press contact :, media download.

*Terms of Use:

Images for download on the MIT News office website are made available to non-commercial entities, press and the general public under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives license . You may not alter the images provided, other than to crop them to size. A credit line must be used when reproducing images; if one is not provided below, credit the images to "MIT."

Previous image Next image

Below is the text of MIT alumnus Noubar Afeyan's Commencement remarks, as prepared for delivery on May 30.

Thank you, Mark, for that generous but somewhat embarrassing introduction.

President Kornbluth, trustees and faculty, students and families, guests, and members of this remarkable community of scholars and solvers: It’s a special honor to be with you today.

Graduates, I once sat where you now sit, brimming with excitement and the sense of accomplishment that comes with a hard-won MIT diploma. Congratulations!

Families, as the father of two MIT alums, I know first-hand the pride and emotion you feel today.

Faculty members, as a senior lecturer here for 16 years, I saw up close how well you prepare these graduates for what lies ahead. And fellow trustees, it is a great privilege to serve alongside you.

I spent my childhood in Beirut, Lebanon. Three generations of my proud Armenian family shared an apartment on the ninth floor of our building. The window in the bedroom I shared with my great aunt looked out over the red-tiled roofs of Roman, Ottoman, and Byzantine buildings and beyond to the Mediterranean Sea.

When civil war erupted in 1975 and the government imposed strict curfews, the state broadcaster often shifted from airing three hours of TV a day to offering round-the-clock programming of mostly American television shows, a diversion for my brothers and me when we were forced to stay inside.

One show in particular had me captivated. Just hearing the theme song would set my heart racing — perhaps you know it, too.

That’s right… “Mission Impossible”!

Even if you never saw the TV show, you likely know the movies with Tom Cruise as agent Ethan Hunt.

The encoded self-destructing message to the agent always began the same way: “Your mission, should you choose to accept it …”

No matter how long the odds, or how great the risk, the agents always took the assignment.

In the fifty years since, I have been consistently drawn to impossible missions, and today I hope to convince each and every one of you that you should be too.

Class of 2024, one incredibly challenging mission is already under your belt: You were given the assignment to begin your studies at MIT … without being at MIT. Going to college, without going to college, was not a mission you’d signed up for, but it is what you got. A handful of you did move to campus, but even for you, masking, testing, social distancing, and virtual classes meant orienting to a foreign land. You even learned a new language, as terms like “Q-week” and “SCUFFY” entered your MIT lexicon. No one knew what would happen next, or when it would all end.

And yet, you found ways to thrive. You dove into your coursework and started to build mostly virtual friendships. In the words of your classmate Amber Velez, who rented a Cambridge apartment with three MIT roommates, you “patched together a little lifeboat in this vast sea of students, spread out over the world.”

Earlier that year, just up the road in Kendall Square, my colleagues and I at Moderna had received another mission that seemed impossible: Develop a safe and effective vaccine that could save lives, restart the economy, and do so in less than a year. Oh, and while you are at it, get a billion doses manufactured, distributed, and into the arms of people around the world.

It was clear that if we accepted this challenge, it would take everything we had. We would have to slow 20 ongoing drug-development programs and focus on solving COVID.

We embraced the mission!

Just 48 hours after Moderna obtained the sequence for the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, we deployed our mRNA technology to produce a potent vaccine. Less than two months later, we enrolled our first patient in a clinical trial, and on November 16th, the vaccine was determined to be 94.5% effective against Covid-19. By some estimates, Moderna’s vaccine saved over 2 million lives during the pandemic.

How did we do it? That’s another speech for another day.

But what I do want to talk about is what it takes to accept your own impossible missions and why you, as graduates of MIT, are uniquely prepared to do so.

Uniquely prepared – and also obligated.

At a time when the world is beset by crises, your mission is nothing less than to salvage what seems lost, reverse what seems inevitable, and save the planet.

And just like the agents in the movies, you need to accept the mission – even if it seems impossible. I know the odds don’t appear to be in your favor. But this age of polycrisis is also a moment of poly-opportunity, fueled by artificial intelligence, machine learning, quantum computing, and other modern technologies that are changing the world faster than people believe is possible.

Now, you are uniquely equipped to turn science fiction into science reality.

With the right mindsets, “Mission Impossible” can become “Mission Improbable” – as you overcome obstacles and seemingly long odds by imagining and innovating your way to novel solutions.

So: How do you go about that? How do you become the agents the world needs you to be?

You already have a head start, quite a significant one. You graduate today from MIT, and that says volumes about your knowledge, talent, vision, passion, and perseverance – all essential attributes of the elite 21st century agent. Oh, and I forgot to mention our relaxed uncompetitive nature, outstanding social skills, and the overall coolness that characterizes us MIT grads.

More seriously, you are trained in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology – fields that, when properly harnessed and supported, can be deployed against almost any seemingly impossible challenge.

You may not realize it yet, but your MIT education has given you a superpower – like X-ray vision – that lets you see through the illusion of impossibility and surface the blueprints for solutions.

And as of today, you even have a secret decoder ring, better known as the Brass Rat!

MIT’s history underscores these special powers. The telephone, digital circuits, radar, email, Internet, the Human Genome Project, controlled drug delivery, magnetic confinement fusion energy, artificial intelligence and all it is enabling – these and many more breakthroughs emerged from the work of extraordinary change agents tied to MIT.

Now let me ask you a question: Aside from MIT, what do such agents have in common? What equips them to accomplish seemingly impossible missions?

I’d argue that they do three things that make big leaps possible. They imagine, they innovate, and they immigrate.

And now, it’s your turn.

Start by unleashing your imagination.

People often see imagination as the exclusive province of the arts: of movie making, literature, painting.

I think that’s nonsense. Imagination, to my mind, is the foundational building block of breakthrough science.

I am not making an argument against reason. Reason has a role to play, but in accomplishing impossible missions, it’s the servant, not the master. You can’t expect reasoning to do the work of imagination. At its best, scientific research is a profoundly creative endeavor.

You have mastered proofs, and problem sets, and design projects, but in the words of mathematician and author Lewis Carroll: “Imagination is the only weapon in the war with reality.”

To the great Irish writer George Bernard Shaw, its role is even more fundamental. As he put it:

“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.”

It is also your turn to innovate. Think of innovation as imagination in action. Or, perhaps, mens et manus, or “mind and hand,” but I hear that line is taken.

MIT did not prepare you to shy away from the unknown, quite the contrary. You are now prepared to leap for the stars, sometimes quite literally — just ask the more than 40 NASA astronauts with MIT degrees.

Leaps often involve unreasonable or even seemingly crazy ideas. Ordinary innovations are often judged by how reasonable the idea is as an extension of what already exists, and how reasonable the person proposing it is.

But ask yourself: Why do we expect extraordinary results from reasonable people doing reasonable things?

As you’ve probably guessed by now, I am utterly unreasonable, and an eternal optimist. As a lifelong entrepreneur and innovator, I have to be.

But I’ve always practiced a special kind of optimism – I call it paranoid optimism. This means toggling back and forth between extreme optimism and deep-seated doubt.

The kind of paranoid optimism needed to make scientific or technological leaps often starts with an act of faith. By that, I mean belief without facts — the very definition of faith.

I know faith is generally associated with religion. But interestingly, in my experience, pioneering science also starts with faith. You take leaps of faith and then you do experiments.

On rare occasions, the experiments work, converting your leap of faith into scientific reality.

What a thrill when that happens!

On your innovation journey, beyond optimism and faith, you will also need the courage of your convictions. Make no mistake, you leave MIT as special agents in demand. As you consider your many options, I urge you to think hard about what legacy you want to leave — and to do this periodically throughout your life.

Not every mission you are qualified for is a mission worth accepting. You are far more than a technologist – you are a moral actor. The choice to maximize solely for profits and power will in the end leave you hollow.

To forget this is to fail the world — and ultimately to fail yourself.

I know many of you here – and some in the Class of 2024 not with us here today — are deeply troubled by the conflicts and tragedies we are witnessing. As an Armenian, descended from genocide survivors, and co-founder of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, I feel deeply the wounds of these conflicts.

I wish I had answers for all of us, but of course, I don’t.

But I do know this: having conviction should not be confused with having all the answers. Over my many years engaged in entrepreneurship and humanitarian philanthropy, I have learned that there is enormous benefit in questioning what you think you know, listening to people who think differently, and seeking common ground.

As you grapple with today’s hard choices — and the many that lie ahead — rely again on your imagination. Imagine the world you want to create and work backwards from there. Be open to the many paths that could carry you towards this goal and let the journey inform which ones will succeed.

I’ve urged you to imagine, and to innovate. The last thing I want to leave you with is the need to immigrate.

I’ll say more about what I mean by “immigrate” in a second, but first I want to give a shout-out to others who, like me, have left their homelands.

For those of you who have emigrated here from far away, or whose parents did, or whose grandparents did, please stand.

I applaud you.

It may often feel like a disadvantage, but you will soon learn it is quite the opposite.

When I first arrived at MIT, I worried I did not belong here: I spoke with an accent, my pastime wasn’t hockey or lacrosse, but Armenian folk dance.

Then one afternoon, late in my first year here, I was walking down the infinite corridor when a poster caught my eye. Staring back from the poster was a Native American chief in full headdress, eyes defiant, finger pointed, seemingly right at me. The poster read: "Who Are You Calling Immigrant, Pilgrim??"

I can’t tell you what an impact that had on me. Aside from Native Americans, we all, at some point, come from somewhere else. It helped me realize I belonged here — at MIT, in the United States. And graduates, families, YOU. DO. TOO.

But here’s the really interesting thing I’ve learned over the years: You don’t need to be from elsewhere to immigrate.

If the immigrant experience can be described as leaving familiar circumstances and being dropped into unknown territory, I would argue that every one of you also arrived at MIT as an immigrant, no matter where you grew up.

And as MIT immigrants, you are all at an advantage when it comes to impossible missions. You’ve left your comfort zone, you’ve entered unchartered territory, you’ve foregone the safety of the familiar. Yet, you persist and survive. You figure out how to accomplish your mission.

Like elite agents, immigrants are the ultimate innovators, equipped to navigate obstacles, to never say never. In fact, I often describe innovation as intellectual immigration. Just like those of us who emigrate from other countries, innovators pioneer new environments seeking a better future — not just for themselves but also for the larger world. So, whether you grew up in Cambodia, or in California, or right here in Cambridge, you can immigrate – and you need to keep immigrating. You need to leave your comfort zone, to think in new ways, to acclimate to the unfamiliar and embrace uncertainty.

If you imagine, innovate, and immigrate, you are destined to a life of uncertainty. Being surrounded by uncertainty can be unnerving, but it’s where you need to be. This is where the treasure lies. It’s Ground Zero for breakthroughs.

Don’t conflate uncertainty and risk — or think of it as extreme risk. Uncertainty isn’t high risk; it’s unknown risk. It is, in essence, opportunity.

I began with a TV show; I’ll end with a movie — the most recent Mission Impossible film released just last summer.

The film is a daunting reminder of all that your generation is up against: complicated geopolitics, climate threats and technological pressures, and AI tools that will both simplify and complicate our world.

But graduates, as I look at all of you, I see a large team of agents who are entirely capable of completing your missions. I see agents for good, agents for change.

MIT has prepared you to tackle impossible missions.

To harness the future and bend it toward the light.

My wish for you, my fervent hope, is that you not only choose to accept impossible missions, you embrace them. Welcome long odds. Embrace uncertainty, and lead with imagination.

Approach the unknown with the courage, the confidence, and the curiosity of an immigrant. With paranoia and optimism.

And always remember the strength of working in teams. Show the world why Mission-Impossible-Team inevitably shorthands to M – I – T.

Graduates, set forth on your impossible missions. Accept them. Embrace them. The world needs you, and it’s your turn to star in the action-adventure called your life.

Share this news article on:

Related links.

• Commencement 2024

Related Topics

• Commencement
• Special events and guest speakers

Related Articles

President Sally Kornbluth’s charge to the Class of 2024

Noubar Afeyan PhD ’87 to deliver MIT’s 2024 Commencement address

Previous item Next item

More MIT News

Noubar Afeyan PhD ’87 gives new MIT graduates a special assignment

Read full story →

Microscopic defects in ice influence how massive glaciers flow, study shows

Scientists identify mechanism behind drug resistance in malaria parasite

Getting to systemic sustainability

New MIT-LUMA Lab created to address climate challenges in the Mediterranean region

• More news on MIT News homepage →

Massachusetts Institute of Technology 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, USA

• Map (opens in new window)
• Events (opens in new window)
• People (opens in new window)
• Careers (opens in new window)
• Accessibility
• Social Media Hub
• MIT on Facebook
• MIT on YouTube
• MIT on Instagram

• Dictionaries home
• American English
• Collocations
• German-English
• Grammar home
• Practical English Usage
• Learn & Practise Grammar (Beta)
• Word Lists home
• My Word Lists
• Recent additions
• Resources home
• Text Checker

Definition of assign verb from the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

Take your English to the next level

The Oxford Learner’s Thesaurus explains the difference between groups of similar words. Try it for free as part of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app

So, the starting pistol has been fired for the six-week sprint to a general election which will be held on 4 th  July. Issues like small boats, the NHS and the economy may dominate much of the headlines, but the outcome of the election will be of huge significance to employment law too, and therefore SME employers.

We already know the trajectory of Conservative policy on employment law: a restriction on trade union activity; extension of the right to request flexible working; a ticking upwards of the National Minimum Wage and Living wage in line with Low Pay Commission recommendations; and the introduction of a week’s unpaid Carer’s Leave per year have been some of the recent initiatives. The most radical thing has probably been the post-Brexit shake up of who has a right to work in the UK.

The polls suggest a win for Labour, though (although the polls have been wrong before!).

Be prepared

On reading the Labour Green Paper on Employment Rights, one phrase that was spoken in our office was that employers should  “Be prepared” . This is because if Labour wins and presses ahead with its “Plan to make work pay”, there is going to be a tsunami of employment law change in favour of employees; and, quite frankly, it could come at huge cost to employers.

It is crucial that employers get ahead of this. Labour state that they will be introducing legislation within the first 100 days of entering government, so time is of the essence.

Whether it’s implementing structural changes before any legal amendments come in. Or futureproofing your businesses policies and processes. Preparation is key.

What are we expecting?

Though it’s early days, the Green Paper gives us an idea of the direction Labour is likely to take, should it come to power.

One thing we would welcome, and indeed we have campaigned for at Westminster on behalf of SMEs, is the removal of the little understood worker status, whilst keeping self-employed and employed status. We think this will simplify employment status, helping everyone understand what employment rights they have. However, it does mean all employees would have access to full employment protection from day one, rather than the current two years.

But beyond this, some of the ideas Labour talk of include…

• Employees will access unfair dismissal rights from day one, rather than after two years’ continuous service. Employers will still be allowed to dismiss for reasons of capability, conduct or redundancy, though there will be a requirement of increased transparency in rules and processes during probationary periods.
• The time limit for making an employment claim will be increased from three months to six months, likely leading to an even bigger backlog in tribunals.
• Increases in the National Minimum Wage and reforming the Low Pay Commission to be more active in driving up wages further.
• The right to switch off – requiring policies to be put in place around contacting employees out of hours, only being able to do so when legitimately required.
• Increases to statutory pay including maternity pay, sick pay and bereavement pay and making statutory sick pay and parental leave a day one right.
• Banning ‘exploitative’ zero-hour contracts, using a twelve-week reference period to ensure workers have a right to a contract that reflects the hours they regularly work.
• A new Single Enforcement Body (SEB) which can carry out unannounced inspections checking for all worker rights such as NMW and discrimination.

More balance is required

While there are sure to be some worthy ambitions in this tidal wave of change, our fear is the cost to employers that it will entail. It may entail a huge amount of indirect and direct expense at a time when we know that SMEs are already struggling with rising costs, and recruitment and retention challenges.

As with a lot in politics, the devil will be in the detail – and there is not much detail in this Green Paper. So, it is wait and see what happens at the election, and then wait and see what happens afterwards.

But you can rest assured that The HR Dept will be by your side, providing pragmatic support to help you lead your team and navigate any challenges that arise – whatever happens.

You may be interested in

Looking for something specific?

Study at Cambridge

About the university, research at cambridge.

• Undergraduate courses
• Events and open days
• Fees and finance
• Postgraduate courses
• How to apply
• Postgraduate events
• Fees and funding
• International students
• Continuing education
• Executive and professional education
• Courses in education
• How the University and Colleges work
• Term dates and calendars
• Visiting the University
• Annual reports
• Equality and diversity
• A global university
• Public engagement
• Give to Cambridge
• For Cambridge students
• For our researchers
• Business and enterprise
• Colleges & departments
• Email & phone search
• Museums & collections
• News and Resources

Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)

• About overview
• Purpose and impact
• Who we work with and why 
• Our people overview
• Corporate Leaders Group Europe
• Corporate Leaders Group UK
• Corporate Leaders Network
• Centre for Sustainable Finance
• Communications
• CISL Africa
• Prince of Wales Global Sustainability Fellows
• Senior Associates
• Network Ambassadors
• Foresight overview
• Research and analysis
• Fellowships overview
• The Prince of Wales Global Sustainability Fellowship in Climate Risk in Aviation, supported by Heathrow
• The Prince of Wales Global Sustainability Fellowship in Nutrition in the first 1000 days of life, supported by Brighter Living Foundation
• CISL Research Webinar Series: Led by the Prince of Wales Fellows, this series of one-hour webinars allowed attendees to engage directly with our Fellows about their research.
• The Prince of Wales Global Sustainability Fellowship in Business Transformation and New Corporate Forms, supported by Anglian Water Services
• The Prince of Wales Global Sustainability Fellowship in Sustainable Aviation, supported by a philanthropic donation from Heathrow Airport
• The Prince of Wales Global Sustainability Fellowship on the role of supermarkets in mitigating food insecurity at city and neighbourhood level, supported by Sainsbury’s.
• Content hubs overview
• Achieving Zero
• Building Change
• Business transformation for a sustainable future
• Entopia Building
• Global Leadership in an Age of Turbulence
• Nature Positive
• Nature-based solutions
• Sustainable Finance
• Sustainable Marketing and Creative
• The Future of Boards
• Advisory Services
• Education overview
• Boards and non-executives
• Executive overview
• Customised Leadership Programmes
• Customised Strategy Programmes overview
• Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program 2023: Registration form
• The Prince of Wales's Business & Sustainability Programme overview
• China Accessibility Sponsorship for BSP Asia delegates
• Cambridge – Earth on Board Programme
• Download the Multigenerational Leadership for Sustainability brochure
• Sustainability Leadership Labs overview
• Systems thinking
• Find the education and development course that is right for you
• Postgraduate overview
• Sources of funding
• Master's in Sustainability Leadership overview
• Delivery format
• Assignments and dissertation
• College membership
• Dissertation supervisors
• Student impact stories
• Programme governance
• Admission requirements
• Assignment supervisors - flexible route
• Master of Studies in Sustainability Leadership: Supporting Documents
• Sustainability Leadership for the Built Environment (IDBE) overview
• Course Assignments and Dissertation
• IDBE testimonials
• IDBE sources of funding
• Dissertation Supervisors
• Information for Employers
• Support for students
• What's the difference between an MSc and an MSt?
• Built Environment (IDBE) tutors
• Who should apply?
• Postgraduate Diploma in Sustainable Business overview
• Assignments
• Employer benefits and support
• Admission requirements, applying, fees and funding
• FAQs on our sustainable business courses
• Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Business overview
• Organisational stream: Curriculum
• Value chain stream: Curriculum
• IDBE Tutors
• Overview of our part-time Built Environmrnt Master's-level sustainable business qualifications
• Postgraduate Diploma Stage 2 Supervisors
• Postgraduate Meet the Directors Webinars
• Sustainable Business
• Online courses overview
• Business Sustainability Management online short course
• High Impact Leadership online short course
• Sustainable Supply Chain Management online short course
• Communicating for Influence and Impact online short course
• Sustainable Finance online short course
• Business and Climate Change: Towards Net Zero Emissions online short course
• Business and Social Justice: A Force for Social Change
• Women Leading Change: Shaping Our Future
• Governance for a Sustainable Future
• Sustainable Food: Production and Processing
• Sustainable Real Estate
• Sustainable Marketing, Media and Creative
• Find your next steps
• Convening overview
• Corporate Leaders Groups
• Centre for Sustainable Finance overview
• ClimateWise (Insurance) overview
• Banking Environment Initiative overview
• Programme page diagram
• Investment Leaders Group
• Aviation Impact Accelerator
• Multisector alliances
• Innovation overview
• Accelerators
• Sino-UK Centre for Sustainability Innovation
• Network overview
• Network benefits
• Network groups
• Network events overview
• Network COP28 Dubai, 7 December
• News and Resources overview
• Blogs overview
• Events overview
• CISL COP26 events - CLGs Corporate Leaders Network dinner, Tuesday 9 November
• Reports overview
• Ahead of the Curve: A preparatory guide on nature for the agri-food sector
• Bank Action Guide: Towards a just transition for small–medium enterprises (SMEs)
• Broadening the horizon: How CFOs and Finance Functions can help drive corporate sustainability
• CISL publishes second stage of its Equality Action Plan
• CISL’s Business Transformation Framework Preliminary Diagnostic
• Climate and Nature: A Route to Mutual Acceleration
• Everything, everywhere, all at once: how can private finance be unlocked for nature and climate in the international financial architecture
• Fashioning a nature positive future: A biodiversity roadmap exploring the Transforming the Fashion Sector with Nature outputs for businesses in the fashion, textile and apparel sector
• Financing Africa’s Low Carbon Transition
• Global Leadership in the Age of Turbulence
• Let’s Discuss Nature with Climate: Engagement Guide
• Planning decisions, adaptive capacity and insurability: Findings from a case study of flooding in Somerset, UK
• Primer on the financial materiality of Nature-based Solutions (NbS)
• Quotes about
• Quotes about Let’s Discuss Nature with Climate: Engagement Guide
• Quotes about Risk sharing for Loss and Damage: Scaling up protection for the Global South
• Quotes about the Policy Brief
• Quotes from the authors of
• Risk sharing for Loss and Damage: Scaling up protection for the Global South
• The ClimateWise Principles Independent Review for 2023
• The Physical Impacts of Advertising

Press enquiries

Rethinking the housing crisis – three radical ideas to fix the current trajectory.

28 May 2024 - Dr Kayla Friedman, Course Director for the Master’s and Postgraduate Certificate in Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment (IDBE), with The University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), showcases her ideas to address the housing situation the UK is facing.

With the UK election just around the corner, housing supply and demand is back in the spotlight. My home city of Cambridge has received a lot of attention recently with the announcement by Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, to establish a Development Corporation to oversee the expansion of the Cambridge region. Cambridge, home to around 150,000 residents, is in the middle of an area that has now been designated for expansion by 150,000 new homes – more than doubling the existing population. Cambridge City Council, already struggling to deliver the existing plans for 50,000 new homes by 2040 , has expressed doubts about the viability of such a plan - and this is in what I would otherwise consider a ‘pro-growth’ Council environment.

For the over 20 years I have lived in the UK, I have seen a country obsessed with housing, but failing to make much progress on establishing a balanced system that actually works.  When I moved to the UK, I worked primarily on the regeneration of council estates in London. I had a lot of learning to do. What was Right to Buy? What was affordable housing? What was council housing? What were housing associations and why did they exist? In the early 2000s, I entered a system of dilapidated housing, councils that didn’t have the funds to upgrade them, rising demand for affordable housing, and a property market that was fast outpacing income.

Despite being on every government agenda, for more than 20 years, demand for housing has continued to outpace supply. The reasons for this are many - from people living longer, to more single-person households. There is also the disproportionate pull of the south-east of England, creating pockets of high demand balanced against other areas of the country facing under occupation.

The climate emergency demands that we stop doing what we’ve always done. We are not going to solve the housing crisis by building more housing - especially not if this includes the unrealistic goal of more than doubling the occupation of some of the UK’s most overcrowded and resource-stretched areas. This is also unrealistic when thinking about the carbon costs of all of this new housing, which we also simply cannot afford.

We need radical reimagination of what good housing looks like, where people want to live, why they want to live there, and how governments can utilise existing stock and assets to help support and create thriving communities. Three completely radical ideas of mine include:

Redesign the Help to Buy and shared ownership schemes to support retrofitting as acceptable outcomes. The benefits could include rehabilitating underutilised existing building stock, creating large-scale supply chains focused on retrofit and reuse, and partnering with housing associations and housebuilders to develop a skilled retrofit workforce.

Instead of investing in housing, consider investment in infrastructure, schools, and services in underoccupied regions of the country, while supporting digital nomads and families looking for a different quality of life to move to these areas. 

Crash the housing market while supporting homeowners who may find themselves underwater. This may mean providing relief for one or possibly two mortgages, while forcing the system to rebalance itself. This could be done through re-thinking taxes on non-resident owners or foreign owners. We have a real problem when, in 2021, places like Kensington and Chelsea in London report unoccupied homes of just over 25%.

Before you tell me that these are all impossible and give me the many reasons you think they won’t work, I challenge you to not accept the status quo. If these ideas don’t work, then what will?

You, who work in the built environment, are the experts, the champions, the ones (quite literally) shaping our collective future and the future for our children and our children’s children. We cannot afford in financial, material, or environmental terms to ‘just keep building more housing’ without pushing ourselves to be more creative, more innovative, and more resourceful in considering what that really means and why we are doing it. We don’t have to keep doing what we’ve always been doing, and the reality is we can’t. We do have other options, if only we are brave enough, and perhaps a little bit mad enough, to make them.

Delivering exceptional future-fit built environment projects requires the deep-skill discipline of many individuals sharing a collective vision and purpose. Our Sustainability Leadership for the Built Environment programmes teach global best practices through project-based learning, with a focus on collaboration and leadership throughout. Applications for 2025 entry to the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership’s (CISL) Certificate and Master’s in Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment and associated scholarships and bursaries open in September 2024.

Cisl-logo-grey.jpg.png.

Related links

Zoe kalus, head of media  , email  | +44 (0) 7845652839.

Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership The Entopia Building 1 Regent Street Cambridge CB2 1GG, UK  

Site Privacy & Cookie Policies

Connect with us.

• CISL news feed
• Request our newsletter
• Download our brochure

Quick links

Online Payment

© 2023 University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. All rights reserved.

© 2024 University of Cambridge

• Contact the University
• Accessibility
• Freedom of information
• Privacy policy and cookies
• Statement on Modern Slavery
• Terms and conditions
• University A-Z
• Undergraduate
• Postgraduate
• Research news
• About research at Cambridge
• Spotlight on...