Edge Debate #96 Climate Responsive Urbanism
How can professionals meet the challenge of urban densification in a time of climate change?
An event hosted jointly with The Urban Design Group and the first in a series of debates entitled Cities, Climate and *Critical Urban Infrastructure.
The overall series explores the consequences of current practices in building, urban design, planning, regulation and policy on critical urban infrastructure. We will discuss how we can harness the often overlooked interactions of built form (the dimensions of buildings and their placement in relation to each other), urban climate and energy both in its natural expression (temperature/wind/sunshine) and those of building needs (cooling/heating loads), whilst addressing our collective responsibilities in this time of climate emergency to create net-zero carbon, healthy and resilient cities.
The intent of this series is to integrate existing knowledge across disciplines, identify gaps in current knowledge and practices, and explore solution pathways for policy and better practice.
This first event explores the ‘Critical Urban Infrastructure’ framework and asks whether it can support an interdisciplinary collaborative approach that promotes comfortable healthy environments and more sustainable urban practice’.
Convenor: Richard Lorch, Editor, Buildings & Cities
Host: Robert Huxford, Director, Urban Design Group
Chair: Rohinton Emmanuel, Professor, Glasgow Caledonian University
Speakers:
Gerald Mills, University College Dublin - Overview, Climate Responsive Urbanism
Asaf Din, Perkins&Will - Resilience in the Design process
Marialena Nikolopoulou, University of Kent - Urban Climate Change: Adaptation and Mitigation
Rachel Toms, Public Health England - Health & Wellbeing
Nicola Bacon, Founding Director Social-Life - Environmental & Social Justice
Venue: The Gallery, 70 Cowcross St, Farringdon, London EC1M 6EJ
Timing: Thursday 9th January 2020
Arrivals 13.30
Debate 14.00 – 17.10 pm
Networking -17.50
The Pub - The Hope, Smithfield
Please come and contribute to the discussion. To attend please register by each attendee’s name here.
*The Critical Urban Infrastructure Framework offers an overarching approach towards climate responsive urbanism that recognises that the components of urban systems are both highly integrated and interdependent. Whereas the traditional approach to the design, use, and environmental management of our cities focuses on green, blue and grey infrastructure, often in isolation, the critical approach accounts for the interdependencies between built form and function (e.g. the dimensions of individual buildings, their occupation patterns and urban layout), outdoor and indoor climates, energy demands and waste generation, etc. Critical infrastructure also includes the urban commons and the use, preservation and access to our collective shared resources (e.g. daylight, ventilation, air quality, etc.), to create comfortable healthy environments and encourage more sustainable urban practices.
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