The Nature-Based Industrial Revolution: Redefining Future-Forward Architecture
There has never been a more important time to elevate the role of the built environment in addressing the climate crises and acting as a catalyst for change. Since the millennia leading up to the First Industrial Revolution, our shared human history has included building in harmony with nature, bioregional ecosystems, and in response to the diverse climatic conditions of the Earth.
The paradigm shift affiliated with industrialization and human habitats offers an opportunity to re-think and re-imagine new ways of living and interacting with nature, while acknowledging the wisdom of the past. This discussion will elaborate on potential future scenarios in the context of the new book Habitat: Vernacular Architecture for a Changing Climate (Thames & Hudson, 2024).
Given our ecosystem’s increasing frailty, the role of architecture and building in a post-digital era, and the desperate need to record fading cultural traditions, this book is more relevant than ever.
Organized by the AIANY Design for Risk and Reconstruction Committee (DfRR) as part of Climate Week New York City 2024, the event addresses the science-policy brief recommendations of “Nature-Based Industrial Revolution for Inclusive Sustainable Development,” a submission for the Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals (STI Forum 2024) at United Nations Headquarters New York.