www.buildingsandcities.org/insights/news/climate-justice-event.html

Climate Justice - video

Climate Justice - video

Watch the Climate Justice presentations discussing what built environment professionals can do to address climate justice.

This event draws on the findings of the recent Buildings & Cities special issue "Climate Justice: The Role of the Built Environment" and was co-organised with The Edge.

Speakers:
Richard Lorch, Buildings & Cities
Anna Mavrogianni, University College London
Sonja Klinksy, Arizona State University
Isabella Krabbe, Royal Town Planning Institute
Faye Wade, University of Edinburgh

Climate change will disproportionately affect low income, socially and economically marginalized communities, individuals suffering from chronic diseases or social isolation, older and young people and other vulnerable populations due to their limited ability to adapt, cope and recover. In addition, some mitigation and adaptation programmes may even magnify existing vulnerabilities or create new ones for marginalised people. Such communities need Climate Justice.

The effect of climate change on the built environment will exacerbate pre-existing inequalities and inequities, due to factors such as; excess indoor temperatures and heat stress, flood risk, fuel poverty, indoor and outdoor air pollution exposure, contaminated water, etc.

This event explains what climate justice is and why it is a significant issue for decision-makers in the built environment. It identifies some processes that can be used to avoid locking-in inequities and injustices in planning, urban design and building design and retrofit.

Key findings are presented from a recent special issue of Buildings & Cities.

Several urgent questions arise about how we can "do no harm" through policy and practice:

  • How can climate injustices in the built environment be readily identified?
  • Who has specific responsibilities and jurisdiction to address the identified vulnerabilities and externalities?
  • What forms of justice can be used to address these concerns?
  • What are actionable approaches for professionals, clients and local government to address climate injustices?
  • How might climate justice be integrated into existing planning, design and procurement decision processes?
  • What capacity building is needed for professionals? How can this link to existing initiatives by professional institutes and NGOs?

Convenor:   Richard Lorch, the Edge and Editor, Buildings & Cities

Speakers:    Anna Mavrogianni, University College London

Sonja Klinsky, Arizona State University

Isabella Krabbe, Royal Town Planning Institute

Faye Wade, University of Edinburgh

Latest Peer-Reviewed Journal Content

Journal Content

Building performance simulation for sensemaking in architectural pedagogy
M Bohm

Beyond the building: governance challenges in social housing retrofit
H Charles

Heat stress in social housing districts: tree cover–built form interaction
C Lopez-Ordoñez, E Garcia-Nevado, H Coch & M Morganti

An observational analysis of shade-related pedestrian activity
M Levenson, D Pearlmutter & O Aleksandrowicz

Learning to sail a building: a people-first approach to retrofit
B Bordass, R Pender, K Steele & A Graham

Market transformations: gas conversion as a blueprint for net zero retrofit
A Gillich

Resistance against zero-emission neighbourhood infrastructuring: key lessons from Norway
T Berker & R Woods

Megatrends and weak signals shaping future real estate
S Toivonen

A strategic niche management framework to scale deep energy retrofits
T H King & M Jemtrud

Generative AI: reconfiguring supervision and doctoral research
P Boyd & D Harding

Exploring interactions between shading and view using visual difference prediction
S Wasilewski & M Andersen

How urban green infrastructure contributes to carbon neutrality [briefing note]
R Hautamäki, L Kulmala, M Ariluoma & L Järvi

Implementing and operating net zero buildings in South Africa
R Terblanche, C May & J Steward

Quantifying inter-dwelling air exchanges during fan pressurisation tests
D Glew, F Thomas, D Miles-Shenton & J Parker

Western Asian and Northern African residential building stocks: archetype analysis
S Akin, A Eghbali, C Nwagwu & E Hertwich

Lanes, clusters, sightlines: modelling patient flow in medical clinics
K Sailer, M Utley, R Pachilova, A T Z Fouad, X Li, H Jayaram & P J Foster

Analysing cold-climate urban heat islands using personal weather station data
J Taylor, C H Simpson, J Vanhatalo, H Sohail, O Brousse, & C Heaviside

Are simple models for natural ventilation suitable for shelter design?
A Conzatti, D Fosas de Pando, B Chater & D Coley

Impact of roofing materials on school temperatures in tropical Africa
E F Amankwaa, B M Roberts, P Mensah & K V Gough

Acceptability of sufficiency consumption policies by Finnish households
E Nuorivaara & S Ahvenharju

Key factors for revitalising heritage buildings through adaptive reuse
É Savoie, J P Sapinski & A-M Laroche

Cooler streets for a cycleable city: assessing policy alignment
C Tang & J Bush

Understanding the embodied carbon credentials of modern methods of construction
R O'Hegarty, A McCarthy, J O'Hagan, T Thanapornpakornsin, S Raffoul & O Kinnane

The changing typology of urban apartment buildings in Aurinkolahti
S Meriläinen & A Tervo

Embodied climate impacts in urban development: a neighbourhood case study
S Sjökvist, N Francart, M Balouktsi & H Birgisdottir

Environmental effects of urban wind energy harvesting: a review
I Tsionas, M laguno-Munitxa & A Stephan

See all

Latest Commentaries

Lessons from Disaster Recovery: Build Better Before

Mary C. Comerio (University of California, Berkeley) explains why disaster recovery must begin well before a disaster occurs. The goal is to reduce the potential for damage beforehand by making housing delivery (e.g. capabilities and the physical, technical and institutional infrastructures) both more resilient and more capable of building back after disasters.

The current situation is implausible: there are pledges for 2030 but no roadmaps for their fulfilment over time. Image: Giovanna Cassavia (TU Graz).

To achieve net zero GHG emissions by mid-century (the Breakthrough Agenda) it is vital to establish explicit sector-specific roadmaps and targets. With an eye to the forthcoming COP30 in Brazil and based on work in the IEA EBC Annex 89, Thomas Lützkendorf, Greg Foliente and Alexander Passer argue why specific goals and measures for building, construction and real estate are needed in the forthcoming round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC 3.0).

Join Our Community