Climate Response

Building neighbourhood-level interventions + retrofits for climate emergencies.

What can we design to protect each other from smoke, fires, extreme heat and cold, flooding, earthquakes, and other environmental emergencies and climate events?

What might neighbourhood-level climate response planning and action look like?

Our guest speaker Taylor Legere, a Disaster Resilience Research Network Graduate Fellow, introduced some of the existing environmental strategies in Vancouver. Across all six co-design groups, a common theme was building community and trust (rather than new buildings), and community as the strongest design element in changing the consumerist model. Specific ideas ranged from retractable coverings to daylighting streams; from tool, resource and planning libraries to sharing hubs and corner stores; and, from rain gardens to front yard agriculture. 

This summer, Urbanarium ran two polls which have identified that respondents believe:

• sustainable water management would have the greatest impact as a climate solution

• air quality and extreme temperatures (hot/cold) are urgent concerns that need to be addressed in the lower mainland.

You can now share your insights on where is safe from, and where is vulnerable to, climate change in our new interactive Climate Response Map.