Designing for a changing climate carbon conscious places

Scotland’s climate is changing. We are already experiencing this through increased rainfall events, warmer seasons and rising sea levels. This is both a challenge and opportunity to rethink how our places are planned, delivered, adapted and used. If we do this well and at pace, we help to futureproof our villages, towns, cities and regions from the more extreme and costly impacts of climate change. In turn, we can help to support places to be healthier, happier, just and thriving. In 2019, the Energy and Climate Change Directorate of the Scottish Government asked Architecture and Design Scotland to help implement Scotland’s Climate Change Plan and Act at a local level. Over the last decade, A&DS has collected intelligence on sustainable design. However with the introduction of a target to be a net zero carbon
society by 2045, we recognized we could both support and gain more understanding of the practical and creative ways places can help achieve this ambition.
This report shares the learning from Architecture and Design Scotland’s year-long exploration in to designing for a changing climate, where we considered a whole place approach to the net zero carbon challenge. Through rethinking how we move about, how we live, how we support town centres and how we become more self-sufficient, we were able to consider different ways to address all scopes of carbon emissions, as well as adapting to the impacts of climate change. Underpinning this report is the learning gained from working directly with four selected Local Authorities on the development and delivery of local spatial plans, the curation of a Public Sector Client Forum on Climate, Health and Place, and the creation of a blog series offering a range of different perspectives.

source :

https://www.ads.org.uk/sites/default/files/2022-05/resource-designing-for-a-changing-climate-report-2020.pdf