Tag: Climate

Book Launch: “We Need to Talk About Climate”, Monday, October 7 from 18:00 (BST) followed by drinks reception | Fyvie Hall, University of Westminster, 309 Regents Street, W1B 2HW

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Monday, 7th of October 2024 at 6pm – 7.30pm (BST)

Where: Fyvie Hall, University of Westminster, 309 Regents Street, W1B 2HW

Join us at the launch of the new open access book We Need to Talk about Climate: How Citizens’ Assemblies Can Help Us Solve the Climate Crisis, written by Graham Smith, Professor of Politics at the University of Westminster and Chair of the Knowledge Network on Climate Assemblies (KNOCA).

Graham will be joined by Miriam Levin, Director of the Participatory Programmes at Demos and lead author of the recent Citizens’ White Paper, and Clare Farrell, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion and Humanity Project, to debate the future of citizens’ assemblies in the UK and beyond. The event will be introduced by Peter Bonfield, Vice Chancellor of the University of Westminster.

The transition to net zero and climate resilient societies requires deep social and economic transformations that will have significant effects on citizens’ lives. Such a transition needs to engage the public directly. Citizens’ assemblies show us how we can bring the shared wisdom of ordinary people into political decision-making.

We Need to Talk about Climate explores the variety of climate assemblies that have taken place so far at local, national and international levels and explains why they have captured the imagination of governments and activists alike. It examines the different contexts and designs of climate assemblies and assesses their impact. Drawing lessons from current practice, the book demonstrates how assemblies can take us beyond the shortcomings of electoral and partisan politics and how they can have a real and lasting impact on climate policy and politics.

We Need to Talk About Climate can be downloaded and hard copies ordered on the University of Westminster Press website.

Praise for the book

“An authoritative and practical guide to one of the most promising democratic innovations for redressing the power imbalances in climate policymaking”, Laurence Tubiana, CEO, European Climate Foundation

“Full of penetrating analysis and inspiring examples, this book shows that there is another – and better – way of doing politics”, Dr Roman Krznaric, author of The Good Ancestor

“Let us heed Professor Smith’s advice before the clock stops ticking”, Professor John Gastil, Penn State University.

https://www.westminster.ac.uk/events/book-launch-we-need-to-talk-about-climate-assemblies

Climate Demonstrator: Live build summer school at Westminster | Open to all University of Westminster students | June 14 – 25, 2021

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

We are pleased to announce the launch of Climate Demonstrator: a live build summer for Westminster students in collaboration with St John the Divine School Kennington.

Be part of a two-week live build summer from 14th to 25th June. Work as part of team to design and fabricate an exciting, interactive playground installation that demonstrates the science of buildings and their interaction with climate and biodiversity. The summer school is open to all Westminster students.

Sign in to your University of Westminster google account and click here to go to the registration form. Click here for the summer school website.

What’s the challenge?

To design and fabricate an exciting interactive playground installation that demonstrates the science of buildings and their interaction with climate and biodiversity.

Who can take part?

The project is open to all students at University of Westminster.

How will I be involved and what will I be doing?

You will be assigned to a team to work with students of other courses and levels. The first stage will be an intensive one-day design charrette or workshop to develop a final design and make a concept model. The models will be taken to the school for discussion and debate. The next stage will be to produce fabrication drawings leading to construction of the final work. The installations will be taken to the school for a day of interaction and exhibition with schoolchildren and for display as part of the London Festival of Architecture.

When will it take place?

The summer school will be held for two weeks from 14th to 25th June, culminating in an exhibition on the last day in the ground of St. John’s School. Everything will be happening on campus and on site so you’ll need to be in London and available to contribute during two weeks.

What will I get out of it?

Constructive fun! After over a year of isolated working this is chance to celebrate a return to face-to-face life and interactive hands-on making. Work with students from other disciplines and levels. Develop organisational and project management skills. Make contact with architects, stakeholders and the schools community. The event is part of the London Festival of Architecture so your work will be on public exhibition.

I’m interested. What do I need to do next?

To register, click here to complete the form

Featured image: Domestic Appliances for Science Oxford, Oxford (UK) 2012

Westminster Climate Action Network and Manchester Climate Action Group: ARCHITECTURE WON’T BE RELEVANT ON A DEAD PLANET! | Online, May 18, 2021 at 17:00 BST

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

When: Tuesday, 18th of May 2021, 17:00 – 18:30 BST

Eventbrite booking: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/architecture-wont-be-relevant-on-a-dead-planet-tickets-154547462621

Since the beginning of civilization, the human race has used architecture as a form of protection from the changing climate, sometimes referred to as the Third Skin. However, significant global climate change has brought to light the impact humanity has had on the planet due to the mass extraction of fossil fuels and other unsustainable practices. The challenge we face is not only important for humanity, but the Earth as a whole. How can architecture play a role in the survival of the planet?

Format…

The format is a panel discussion guided by a chair between two students, two tutors, and two professionals, each invited by the two universities. Each speaker will present for 3-4 minutes, after which a general discussion will follow facilitated by the chair. At this point, members of the audience are invited to ask questions in the live chat aimed at certain speakers or both panels as a whole. The questions will be selected by the chair, so that the conversation opens up into new areas, thus expanding everyone’s learning on this pertinent yet broad topic.

DEBATE THEMES…

TECHNOLOGICAL – Technology in Architecture has fundamentally shaped society, the economy and the environment. Throughout time, the rapid and continuous urbanization of the modern world has put pressure on cities to provide satisfactory living conditions for humans at the cost of the environment. Even though technology itself has caused many environmental and social problems, it could be key to addressing some of the pressing global challenges we face as a society, through helping to reduce the negative impact of the built environment on the Earth. However, the new employed technologies are facing differing opinions in regards to which solutions have greater benefits on the environment:

ECOLOGICAL – For generations humans have presented themselves as dominant over nature, exploiting and viewing it as subordinate without considering the severe repercussions on the environment. Directly relating to architecture, construction sites for instance have gradually destroyed the habitats of species which are crucial to our survival on the planet leaving them shelter-less.

SOCIAL – Through the work of social scientists and other like-minded people, the impact of the Anthropocene is being acknowledged as more than just climate science. Awareness of environmental injustice has led to the development of terms such as “the unequal exchange”, the material extraction and labour exploitation of communities for the benefit of others. In addition, these areas in the Global South will be impacted by the effects of climate change sooner. This injustice is not just between nations, but within societies, as the global top 10% are responsible for half of all global emissions (Oxfam, 2020).

Call for Papers: “CFP Land, Air, Sea: Environment during the Early Modern Period”, 72nd Annual International Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Providence, Rhode Island, USA, April 24 – 28, 2019_Deadline 5th June 2018

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

CFP Land, Air, Sea: Environment during the Early Modern Period

72nd Annual International Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians

Where: Providence, Rhode Island, USA

When: April 24 – 28, 2019

Deadline for abstracts: Jun 5, 2018

Contrary to certain strands of scholarship, environmental thinking about ideas of climate, energy, and habitat were at stake several hundred years before the start of the twentieth century. This panel aims to explore how earlier practices concerning architecture and the environment preceded more modern concepts of environmental exploitation and the consequences of man-made interventions. We intend to understand how architectural practices were stoked by the extraction of natural resources during the early modern era. Construction in Venice, for example, meant the state was preoccupied with managing timber resources in the terra firma. During the Age of Exploration, European shipbuilding likewise led to the depletion of timber reserves in places including present-day Iceland, Portugal, and areas located along the Mediterranean. Such deforestation is also evident in practices in sixteenth-century New England by British and French pioneers and seventeenth-century Dutch East Indies traders, who ravaged the northern trees of Java.

Recent concepts of the Anthropocene have centered mainly on questions of sustainable design and technologies from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. However, ideas of the environment originating within the early modern period provide important markers of the pre-history of many of these developments in architecture and urbanism, both within Europe and in its colonial territories. We welcome papers from the late medieval period to the eighteenth century which outline how architectural practices in diverse habitats began to forecast some of the contemporary problems addressed today by environmentalists. How did the micro-climates in Europe, Asia, the Americas, and Oceania affect the architectural and urban development of settlements and coastal cities? Or how did industry drive the construction of buildings and infrastructure including factories, ports, shipyards, and trading depots? How was architecture impacted by state policies towards forest conservation and land management?

Session co-chairs: Jennifer Ferng, University of Sydney, and Lauren Jacobi, MIT

The 72nd Annual International Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians will take place on April 24-28, 2019 in Providence, Rhode Island.

Applicants must submit a 300-word abstract and CV through the online portal of the Society of Architectural Historians.

Further details of the submission guidelines are available at www.sah.org.

Please do not send materials directly to the panel co-chairs.

Submission of proposals to the SAH online portal closes at 11:59 on June 5, 2018 (Central Daylight Time).

Final year BA and MArch Students: Visiting Consultant Sessions, Friday 24th March, 14:00-18:00

Posted on by Mirna Pedalo

Technical Studies are organising Visiting Consultant Sessions for the 3rd year BA students and 2nd year MArch students to meet and discuss their work with various professionals in the field of architecture, engineering and environmental design.

To sign up please go to the notice board next to M503.

The consultants this year are:

Scott Batty – UOW / Scott Batty Architects (Detailing / Materials)

Chris Leung – Bartlett / UCL (Environmental Design and Engineering)

Will McLean – UOW

Andy Whiting – Hut Architecture (Detailing / Materials)

Yashin Kemal – Robin Partington and Partners (Detailing / Materials)

Ed Hollis – StructureMode (Structural Engineering)

Benson Lau – UOW (Architecture, Climate & Environmental Design)

Oliver Houchell – Houchell Studio (Bridge and Structural Design / Architecture)

Dave Heely – Morph Structures (Structural Engineering)