As housing and urban development challenges become more complex, the ability to clearly communicate risks, needs, and solutions across sectors is increasingly important. Developers, planners, policymakers, engineers, and communities often rely on technical drawings, reports, and specialised language that can be difficult for non-experts to interpret. This can create gaps in understanding around issues such as housing affordability, safety, climate resilience, and sustainable infrastructure.

SD-moji is an interactive workshop that explores how visual language can support clearer communication in the built environment sector. The title refers to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, which call for safe, resilient, and inclusive housing worldwide. The workshop asks a simple question: what if the goals and challenges of sustainable cities could be communicated through simple visual icons?

Emoji and icons function as modern pictograms—recognisable symbols that can quickly convey complex ideas across languages, cultures, and levels of technical expertise. While emoji are widely used in everyday digital communication, they are rarely applied systematically to housing, construction, and urban development.

In this workshop, participants take part in a collaborative emoji-thon design sprint. Working in small groups, they translate key housing and construction concepts—such as affordability, building safety, climate risk, heat stress, or resilient infrastructure—into simple visual icons. The exercise encourages participants to explore how different stakeholders interpret the same challenges and how visual tools can help bridge communication gaps across disciplines.

The session combines a short presentation on visual communication in cities with hands-on design exercises. Outputs are displayed on a shared “emoji wall,” allowing participants to compare interpretations and reflect on how visual symbols can support more accessible communication in planning and development.