Land value is a powerful driver of urban form, but should that value also respond to the way built form supports climate performance, ecological function and collective wellbeing; and, if so, how? This Edge Debate will explore pathways to connecting land value with improvements to urban climate.
Climate change already influences insurance models, asset value, and investor confidence. Yet many planning and valuation frameworks continue to treat buildings as standalone ‘energy islands’; overlooking how solar exposure, ventilation, and water dynamics interact across the urban landscape and obscuring the wider interactions that define how cities actually perform. As towns and cities continue to grow and climate risks intensify, resilience must be embedded into how we plan, design and invest in urban areas. Not just for compliance or efficiency, but for lasting performance — environmental, spatial, and social. This means making better connections between land value and climate impacts in order to continuously drive improvements to urban form.
A series of speakers will describe potential pathways to assessing and valuing urban form and how its wider impact can be recognised in policy and valuation. An expert invited audience will then debate how urban climate considerations should be incorporated into design, planning, development and investment decisions?
Chair: Lisa Fairmaner MRTPI, Head of London Plan and Strategic Planning, Greater London Authority
Moderator: Marialena Nikolopoulou, Kent School of Architecture
Speakers: Farhaan Mir, m3 Ventures
Julie Futcher, Anglia Ruskin University
Sophie Taysom, Founder and CEO, Keyah
Venue: AKT II, White Collar Factory, 1 Old Street Yard, London, EC1Y 8AF
Time & date: 18.00 – 19.30 - 14th July 2025 (in person) - Arrivals from 17.30
To attend the event please register at:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/urban-climate-tickets-1424462057359
This Edge Debate is being held in conjunction with AKT II and ARU and has been organised by Julie Futcher and Mattia Donato, members of the Edge.