Foster + Partners, in collaboration with the Maldives Fund Management Corporation (MFMC), has unveiled the masterplan for Gaafaru, an inhabited island in the Kaafu Atoll of the Maldives. This project is designed to ensure a sustainable and resilient future for the island by addressing the critical challenges posed by climate change, rising sea levels, and social inequalities. At the heart of this plan are six guiding principles that aim to balance environmental protection with community prosperity, creating a model of future-proof island development.
About a decade ago, the term "resilience planning" became ubiquitous in climate circles. That shift, in the wake of increasingly unpredictable events, was shaped in part by the Rockefeller Foundation's 100 Resilient Cities program, a six-year, $160 million effort to establish chief resilience officers in cities all over the world. Out of that program, which ended in 2019, emerged its successor, Resilient Cities Catalyst (RCC), a New York–based nonprofit engaged in what it calls "capacity building" projects. For Climate Week, I talked to Sam Carter, one of RCC's founding principals, about his definition of resilience, the organization's planning and philanthropic method, and the challenge of scaling up climate efforts.
It's that time of year again: students and their families are busy preparing for the start of school, while some of us are gearing up to step in front of the classroom. While preparing to teach an intro course on climate, I'm reminded of why we use the term climate change and not global warming.
Yes, the Earth is warming from a thickening layer of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere caused by us. But climate changes range from sea level rise to increasing storms, floods, fires, and drought, which are all negatively impacting biodiversity as well. So, not just warming. Recent storms that battered the eastern U.S. coast and Bermuda remind us of this difference. While some communities face extreme heat, others brace for storms and rising waters, and many face multiple impacts.
Anyone who walks during the summer in a city like Boston knows that a significant amount of time is spent charting routes with shade. But I can’t use that as my only excuse for being off-task. Honestly, I’m distracted. The swirling headlines of the U.S. presidential election, an unprecedented UN climate conference looming, and the phrase “decade of decisive action” weighs heavy on my shoulders. While it’s easy to get caught up in current events, those of us with solutions must stay focused.
A perhaps helpful Japanese phrase to call upon is “kotsu kotsu,” essentially meaning to slow down and focus on the task at hand, and do it well. Temperatures are soaring, people are suffering. As a recent UN COP letter stated, “time lost is lives, livelihoods, and the planet lost.” Cooling our cities and communities is more important than ever.
In November of 2022, the coastal city of Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, hosted the 27th convention of the United Nations Conference of the Parties, known as COP27. Since signing the Paris Agreement in 2015, the nearly annual conference has gained momentum as a global leader in sharing knowledge and developing frameworks to mitigate climate change worldwide. While the more recent COP28, held in Dubai in 2023, focused on conversations of energy production, this previous conference focused on urban contexts, as they deal with the urgent need for incorporating loss, damage, and climate reparations into climate action plans. As two years have now passed since COP27, it is important to revisit these discussions and hold governing bodies accountable for the promises made and the benchmarks set for climate change mitigation. One of the most ambitious plans from COP27 highlights an urgent debate in our urban environments: how will we define loss, damage, and climate reparations in the twenty-first century?
Contrary to common belief, artificial islands have a lengthy historical background in many regions worldwide. This heritage dates back to the reclaimed islands in Ancient Egypt, the hundreds of Stilt crannogs found in Scottish and Irish lakes and waterways, and the ceremonial islands constructed during the Aztec Empire. By definition, an artificial island is an island that has been constructed by humans rather than formed through natural processes. Artificial islands can be built for many different reasons, and these reasons are only increasing as the world faces the looming issue of space scarcity.
In the past, these islands were intended for ceremonial or agricultural purposes, often verging on solutions for urban space. More recently, the islands have been built to mitigate overcrowding, reclaim land, provide new urban expansions, and meet infrastructure and industrial needs. Artificial islands also have certain strategic advantages and economic gains and can lead to geopolitical benefits. However, these types of projects come at a significant cost to our ecosystem, harming the environment in severe and vast ways.
As we reach mid-2024, European cities showcase various urban development markers that are shaping the trajectory for the remainder of the year. Under themes of urban mobility in Brussels, sustainability in Valencia, Smart Cities in Rotterdam, and urban cooling in Paris, each city is making noteworthy progress on the road to meet the 2030 targets set by the Paris Agreement. In these diverse urban fabrics, European cities are committed to defining challenges and working towards shaping a climate-conscious future.
Musicians, advertisers, and renowned chefs are just some of the professionals who initially found inspiration and training in architecture before changing course. Beyond designing buildings, architecture promotes a comprehensive view of space, aesthetics, and functionality—all valuable skills in various fields. Architects are trained to think creatively and solve complex problems, applying this expertise to the development of all kinds of projects. With the help of technology and artificial intelligence tools, this field can expand even further. Contemporary urban development, in particular, faces complex challenges that require innovative solutions. An example of architects venturing into different areas beyond design or construction sites is the OSPA Group, based in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Although it began as an architecture firm, over the years it evolved to include three main vertical activities, each playing a crucial role in urban development: the Responsive Cities Institute, Urbe.me, and Place.
The relentless drumbeat of climate disasters in the headlines—scorching heat waves, raging wildfires, historic floods, crippling droughts—are no longer a series of anomalies. As a grim new reality across much of the globe, these extreme weather events, driven by human-induced climate change, are becoming more frequent and severe. In short, they are clearly symptomatic of a broader and more pervasive environmental crisis.
Eastern and Southern Europe is enduring a severe heatwave, with temperatures reaching over 40 degrees Celsius in many countries including Greece, Croatia, Macedonia, and Romania. Driven by hot air from North Africa, this prolonged heatwave has raised significant threats for residents and has strained the cities’ mechanisms for protection and climate mitigation. As the heatwaves expose the vulnerabilities of urban infrastructures, cities across Europe are striving to implement measures to address these challenges.
Evolving urban conditions call for an evolving builtscape, and retrofits have been a key mechanism to allow buildings to adapt and respond to new needs. Amidst global environmental concerns, climate retrofits have become a popular strategy to upgrade buildings based on improved operational efficiency. Global decarbonization plans have even called for city-wide retrofits, such as in the case of London, to meet civic goals. While such upgrades significantly reduce energy consumption, they often come with a hidden cost - embodied carbon in retrofit materials and the potential for future waste.
Due to climate change, heat waves are becoming increasingly frequent and intense, and they present a critical challenge for the design of urban spaces. Elevated temperatures exacerbate public health issues, increase energy consumption, and diminish cities' overall quality of life. Urban design must adopt strategies that promote resilience to mitigate these effects rather than merely replicating traditional formats that do not address the thermal stress experienced by many.
For quite some time, we have recognized the positive effects of urban green spaces, interaction with nature, water, and soil, and the associated health and well-being benefits for residents living next to parks. The significance of this matter has been further underscored, particularly in the aftermath of the panic induced by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the present moment once again highlights the influence of our urban models on modern life, now grappling with unprecedented extreme temperatures.
Alarming cases of climate disasters are a constant presence in world news. Last month's floods in southern Brazil gained special attention from heat waves and forest fires to droughts and cyclones. This tragedy, which left over half a million people homeless, was understood to be the result of a combination of factors, including human actions that have devastated ecosystems to create environmentally irresponsible cities.
In this context, the work of Beijing-based architect Kongjian Yu, founder of the landscape architecture firm Turenscape, has gained international visibility and recognition, which included receiving the 2023 Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize (“Oberlander Prize”). His "sponge cities" concept, designed to address and prevent urban flooding in the face of accelerated climate change, was adopted as national policy in China in 2013. This approach prioritizes large-scale nature-based infrastructures such as wetlands, greenways, and parks.
In the evolving landscape of architecture and urban design, bioclimatic and biogenic envelopes present a compelling vision for future cities. Dr. Arta Yazdanseta, a Doctor of Design focused on energy and environments, dives into the intersection of design, building performance, and plant biophysical ecology. With a focus on bioclimatic and biogenic envelopes, Dr. Yazdanseta examines how these typologies can enhance socio-natural systems by leveraging their self-organizing potential. Dr. Yazdanseta’s academic journey includes earning a Doctor of Design and a Master of Design in Energy and Environments from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Her contributions as a researcher at the Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities include developing environmental design strategies and performance analyses for the HouseZero carbon retrofit project. In this interview, Dr. Yazdanseta explores the concept of bioclimatic envelopes and their interaction with passive architectural design principles. With a potential to revolutionize urban environments, the interview reveals insights into her research, the benefits of plant-based materials, and the future of sustainable architecture, emphasizing the critical connection between human and environmental health.
The 7th Tallinn Architecture Biennale (TAB 2024) will commence on October 9th, 2024, at various venues around the city. Organized by the Estonian Centre for Architecture, this edition of the global architecture exhibition explores “Resources For a Future,” hoping to encourage dialogue, interdisciplinary work, and innovation within architecture. The event targets both architects and the general public and includes a comprehensive program featuring workshops, panels, seminars, and Open House Tallinn.
Limited resources are becoming an increasingly common challenge in architecture. Today, regardless of the region, projects are affected by the availability of resources, which are now compounded by environmental considerations. This situation, far from being restrictive, prompts us to explore new possibilities in how we conceive the built environment. In this context, it is crucial to understand that resources are not only limited to the economy but also include technological, material, and spatial aspects. Thus, we can enhance our creativity and efficiency by broadening our considerations when approaching architectural design and its challenges, doing more with less.
At the community level, the challenge becomes even more significant when we consider that our projects must not only be designed to overcome these "constraints," but also to positively impact their communities. Therefore, contemporary projects must present different strategies to overcome limited resources and materials depending on the context, always aiming to achieve a positive impact and become powerful and ingenious proposals while democratizing access to architecture.
https://www.archdaily.com/1016682/community-growth-through-architecture-maximizing-limited-resources-for-positive-impactEnrique Tovar
Plastic Island. Image Courtesy of Emily-Claire Goksøyr
As you read this, you may notice that you are surrounded by several items made of plastic. This omnipresence is no coincidence; the versatility of plastic has made it suitable for a variety of applications, and was described by its inventor—Leo Baekeland— as “the material of a thousand uses.” However, when it comes to environmental impact, the problem lies in its very qualities: it is so durable, adaptable, and easy to produce (430 million tons per year) that, according to UN data, the equivalent of 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic are dumped into the oceans, rivers, and lakes every day.
In the built environment, plastic has been incorporated into various materials, products, and construction systems, contributing to an environmental crisis that seriously affects the well-being of millions of living beings. Faced with this problem, one possible direction is to shift away from utilizing it. The search for plastic-free alternatives is marking a path toward a future where architecture is progressively disassociating itself from these polluting materials, promoting sustainable solutions that reduce our dependence on it and contribute to preserving the environment.
https://www.archdaily.com/1016334/making-the-case-for-plastic-free-architecture-innovative-solutions-for-the-present-and-futureEnrique Tovar
