Have you heard of climate justice? Do you know how many climate refugees there already are? Do you understand the implications of climate migration for different regions? Feedback loops, urban heat islands, embodied carbon, eco-system restoration, ecological debt – how do these affect your work? If you are stopped on the street and asked for a detailed, step-by-step explanation of a particular environmental issue, can you provide it?

Resilience, restoration, regeneration, carbon neutral, embodied energy – these and similar terms slip off the tongue of every millennial. Ageism has entered the design debate with a vengeance and the youth are blaming everyone older than 35 for the climate mess that we are in. Whether this blame is justified or not, ignorance is not - “OK, Boomer!” It is time for established practitioners to up-skill themselves to be able to participate in current debates and influence the future.

The SBE 2022 conference addresses how we counteract the impact of the built environment on the planet and how we adapt to a changing climate, extreme weather, variable resources, social emergencies and biodiversity loss. What can we proactively relinquish or adapt from our current and past built solutions to achieve the transformative, regenerative change necessary? Our designs need to deal with both mitigation and adaptation.

Unlike most “green” conferences, SBE 2022 does not aim to sell you so-called “green” products or magic bullets that will instantly green wash your designs. SBE 2022 does not aim to showcase unattainable technological solutions dreamt up by international architects in lab coats or at computer screens. SBE 2022 aims to provide practical, down-to-earth viewpoints and approaches to equip you with better ways of working in the design and construction field. The intention is to equip delegates with the background knowledge to engage meaningfully in climate action and debate, whether professionally or otherwise.

In the regenerative design and hand-building course and in the conference, we will consider firstly what we may expect to happen in view of the climate and biodiversity emergency and secondly how we can and should deal with these expected changes. We will address these considerations through the lenses of the classic triumvirate of people, planet, profit, - re-interpreted through a more holistic lens, and linked to the regenerative design mantra of earth care, people care, fair share. Linked to this overarching perspective are the following three themes:

Earth, our future - regenerative design and construction

The world continues to design and build, causing increasing damage to the natural environment that sustains us. What can practitioners in the built environment professions do to turn around our negative impact on the planet’s biodiversity and climate? How can we connect the dots as innovative problem-solvers?

Humanity, the future - climate migration, food and water security

Can technology provide a short-term or long-term comprehensive solution for the for the food and water security problems that most people in the world face today. What are the challenges we face in this regard and what solutions are there? How can we achieve climate justice?

Confronting the future - creating action through advocacy and mobilisation for change

Brilliant proposals remain just that – proposals - unless there is political, institutional and financial support for implementation. Built environment professionals are notoriously ill-equipped to source such support. What could we do to change that?

Catch some of the GWD members as part of the speaker panel:

Read more on the Conference Website