Will decarbonising buildings be enough? Constrain and redistribute growth in floor area
While decarbonising the built environment is a dominant strategy in tackling climate change, centred on renewable energies and energy efficiency, it overlooks the role played by growth in built floor area in overconsumption of material and other natural resources. Shifting our frame of reference en...
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2024-06-01
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| Online Access: | http://www.agathon.it/agathon/article/view/401 |
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While decarbonising the built environment is a dominant strategy in tackling climate change, centred on renewable energies and energy efficiency, it overlooks the role played by growth in built floor area in overconsumption of material and other natural resources. Shifting our frame of reference enables us to view this as the root cause of not only climate change, but also the destruction of biodiversity and increased global inequity. Recent recognition of embodied carbon has led to increased attention to ways of reducing and redistributing growth in global floor area – for both new builds and renovations – based upon carbon budgets with floor area projections and allocations for various building typologies. In reviewing growth projections, and employing creative systems thinking and ‘innovability’, the essay introduces the role of ‘sufficiency’ in avoiding, reducing and prioritising demand in the built environment, coupled with novel ways of meeting service needs enabled by digitalisation. While such a transformative change may dramatically reduce carbon consumption, biodiversity loss and global inequity, it also poses major challenges and opportunities for architects, designers and other industry stakeholders.
Article info
Received: 31/01/2024; Revised: 18/03/2024; Accepted: 13/04/2024
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-43b7d32cdf0341ed952279198f9f27cc |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2464-9309 2532-683X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-06-01 |
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| spelling | doaj-art-43b7d32cdf0341ed952279198f9f27cc2025-02-03T09:40:22ZengLetteraVentidue SrlAgathón2464-93092532-683X2024-06-011510.19229/2464-9309/1562024Will decarbonising buildings be enough? Constrain and redistribute growth in floor areaDavid Ness0University of South Australia (Australia) While decarbonising the built environment is a dominant strategy in tackling climate change, centred on renewable energies and energy efficiency, it overlooks the role played by growth in built floor area in overconsumption of material and other natural resources. Shifting our frame of reference enables us to view this as the root cause of not only climate change, but also the destruction of biodiversity and increased global inequity. Recent recognition of embodied carbon has led to increased attention to ways of reducing and redistributing growth in global floor area – for both new builds and renovations – based upon carbon budgets with floor area projections and allocations for various building typologies. In reviewing growth projections, and employing creative systems thinking and ‘innovability’, the essay introduces the role of ‘sufficiency’ in avoiding, reducing and prioritising demand in the built environment, coupled with novel ways of meeting service needs enabled by digitalisation. While such a transformative change may dramatically reduce carbon consumption, biodiversity loss and global inequity, it also poses major challenges and opportunities for architects, designers and other industry stakeholders. Article info Received: 31/01/2024; Revised: 18/03/2024; Accepted: 13/04/2024 http://www.agathon.it/agathon/article/view/401climate emergencysufficiencyoverconsumption of resourcesinequalityinnovability |
| spellingShingle | David Ness Will decarbonising buildings be enough? Constrain and redistribute growth in floor area Agathón climate emergency sufficiency overconsumption of resources inequality innovability |
| title | Will decarbonising buildings be enough? Constrain and redistribute growth in floor area |
| title_full | Will decarbonising buildings be enough? Constrain and redistribute growth in floor area |
| title_fullStr | Will decarbonising buildings be enough? Constrain and redistribute growth in floor area |
| title_full_unstemmed | Will decarbonising buildings be enough? Constrain and redistribute growth in floor area |
| title_short | Will decarbonising buildings be enough? Constrain and redistribute growth in floor area |
| title_sort | will decarbonising buildings be enough constrain and redistribute growth in floor area |
| topic | climate emergency sufficiency overconsumption of resources inequality innovability |
| url | http://www.agathon.it/agathon/article/view/401 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT davidness willdecarbonisingbuildingsbeenoughconstrainandredistributegrowthinfloorarea |