RIBA Climate Guide

Climate change is a threat to humankind, which requires immediate action. The built environment has a vital role to play in responding to the climate emergency. There is a pressing need for architects to acquire the requisite skills and knowledge to design buildings that deliver sustainable outcomes, meeting the RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge and mandatory competence in climate literacy. Equipping you with the key information that built environment professionals require to halt climate change and mitigate its impacts in your day-to-day work, this book is organised around six overarching topics: 1. Human Factors 2.Circular Economy 3.Energy and Carbon 4.Water 5.Ecology and Biodiversity 6.Connectivity and Transport Featuring images and original illustrations, each themed section will guide you through fundamental elements and competencies for creating a sustainable design and delivery framework that can be implemented by you in your practice. Contextualising the climate emergency within the built environment landscape, the guide maps out the essential background knowledge around climate science, international agreements, legislations, commitments and roadmaps. A collection of short, building- and urban-scale case studies present key takeaways, illustrating real-life applications of design strategies and industry-wide tools, as well as standards that are deployed in climate-conscious built environments all around the world.

About the Author Foreword Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Global and Built Environment Climate Fundamentals, Climate Fundamentals, International Legislations, Agreements, Frameworks, Roadmaps and Plans for Action, Risks and Opportunities in a Net Zero Economy, Sustainable Urbanism, Architecture and Engineering, Built Environment Policy, Legislation, Regulations, Commitments, Frameworks, Benchmarks and Construction Industry Guidance 2. Sustainable Outcomes and Common Threads, Outcome-based Briefing, Design, Delivery and Management of the Built Environment Retrofit (Adaptation and Reuse), Planning for (Climate) Extremes, Disaster Risk, Resilience/Robustness, Redundancy and Adaptation, Climate Justice, Equitable and Inclusive Design, Procurement, Process, Life Cycle Costing, Research and Innovation 3. Human Factors Health, Wellbeing and Comfort, Biophilic and Sensory Design, User Experience Design and Occupant Behaviour, Communities, Interconnectivity and Inclusion, Social Value 4. Circular Economy Resource Efficiency, Sufficiency and Geographic Implications, Designing for Change (Flexibility and Adaptability) and Regeneration, Waste as a 'Resource', Environmental and Health Impacts of Materials and Waste, Responsible and Ethical Sourcing 5. Energy and Carbon Passive Design, Active Design: Environmental Systems and Technologies, Whole Life Carbon Impacts (for Retrofit and New Build), Offsetting and Carbon/Offset Credits, Iterative and Integrated Design and Delivery Process 6. Water Water Cycles, Sources, Stresses, Quality and Management, Water Recycling and Reuse, Rainwater Harvesting, Stormwater Management and Sustainable Urban Drainage, Water Pollution on Land and in Aquatic Habitats, Impacts of Climate Change (Water-related Hazards and Disasters) 7. Ecology and Biodiversity Biodiversity and Net Gain Nature-based Solutions Land Use and Urban Density Bioregional Planning and Biophilic Urbanism Sustainable Food Production and Urban Food Systems 8. Connectivity and Transport Site Selection, Location and Urban Ecosystems Compact Development and Walkability Regional and Local Infrastructure and Planning Low Carbon Transport and Multimodal Transportation Networks Planning for Future of Transportation

Mina Hasman is Associate Director, Sustainability Lead at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM). Mina leads SOM's sustainability and wellbeing daily operations and long-term vision for achieving excellence in practice.