The State of Climate Report came out 14 October. For architects, developers, planners, engineers and designers, this means considering not just the emissions associated with constructing and operating a building, but also how that building performs during extreme heat, flooding, drought, power disruption and changing patterns of occupancy. It means planning for resilience without losing sight of the urgent need to reduce emissions. 

“It also means recognising that a building does not exist in isolation. Its resilience depends on the surrounding landscape, drainage systems, energy infrastructure, transport networks, food supply and the health of the ecosystems on which the community depends. A climate-resilient building in a climate-vulnerable neighbourhood is not, on its own, a resilient settlement. The scale of our thinking must expand from individual buildings to streets, neighbourhoods, cities, regions and the wider living systems that sustain them.”