The Climate Forum

Held in November 2024, The Climate Forum offered a thought-provoking set of discussions focussed on imagines the future of the architecture profession through the lens of the current climate crisis. Panels considered new pathways, design solutions, and ways of practice in our changing climate.

The recordings of the sessions are now available. Three hours of formal CPD is also available on completion of the CPD questions. Purchase access below.

The Climate Forum

In 2024 we are in a new world where global temperatures have breached a global warming threshold of 1.5°C. This is attributed to Anthropogenic carbon emissions of which 30-40% can be attributed to the built environment.

As practitioners in the built environment, we are complicit in this.

The Climate Forum resists this complicity: to make space for dialogue on how we, in Australia and across the Asia Pacific, can tackle, adapt and build resiliency in a world of changing climate. Climate Forum recognises that communities need place-based design solutions and that architects need to ‘think global’ and ‘act local’. The purpose of the Climate Forum is to support this thinking and action, bringing together built-environment practitioners and community members to discuss and connect on sustainability initiatives, success stories and knowledge.

The Climate Action in Australian Architectural Practice report is a starting point for the discussion. The Climate Forum program built on its six findings: Build Agency, Overcome Inertia, Advocate, Build Knowledge, Connect, and Choose Hope.

Acknowledgement & Introduction

Owen Cafe & Dr Liz Brogden

Owen Cafe begins the Forum with an Acknowledgement of Country. Liz Brogden sets out the aims and challenges. As climate change accelerates, the architectural profession is increasingly called upon to address environmental challenges head-on. Practitioners are not only concerned about the impacts of climate change, they are also actively seeking ways to integrate sustainability into their practice. The introduction expands on how architects can become champions of sustainable design and climate action.

Panel 1: Overcome Inertia & Advocate

Emma Healy (chair), Theresa Bower, Carol Marra, Ellen Buttrose

Architects face significant barriers to climate action, including knowledge gaps and lack of confidence in new tools and systems. This panel will address the resistance within the profession, highlight key barriers to change and emphasise the importance of up-skilling through diverse sources. We will discuss the need for top-down support to implement changes and build new competencies. Emphasising the profession’s ethical drive and sense of responsibility, the panel explores how current climate action is propelled by collective action and bottom-up initiatives, in tandem with government policies.

Keynote presentation

Dominique Chen

Dominique Chen is an interdisciplinary arts-based researcher living on Jinibara Country in South East Queensland, Australia, currently teaching areas across Indigenous art and protocols, the art of resistance and Indigenous research methodologies. Her eloquent and thought-provoking keynote presentation underscore the necessity of decolonization in building equitable and sustainable futures. She highlights the need for creativity, empathy, and proper listening to heal collective trauma and foster resilience. She stresses the significance of relationships with Country and the necessity of integrating trauma to avoid repeating past mistakes. Chen underscores the importance of diverse perspectives and collective care in addressing climate challenges and fostering a regenerative culture.

Panel 2: Build Knowledge & Connect

Lucy Humphrey (chair), Owen Cafe, Birdy Bird, Dr Anne Kovachevich

This panel discusses the crucial role of Indigenous cultural knowledge and collaboration with First Nations peoples in addressing climate change, as well as highlight new cross-industry and multi-disciplinary collaborations. It examine how architects can better leverage relationships with architecture schools and industry to drive sustainability efforts and embrace holistic solutions.

Panel 3: How is change already happening? / Closing remarks

Hannah Holmen (chair), Dr Kavita Gonsalves, Libby Ba-Pe, Clare Kennedy

Architects feel a deep responsibility for the environmental impacts of the built environment. The third panel explores the psychosocial challenges and the profession’s determination to lead change. It examine how architecture, as a creative discipline, is well positioned to generate hope and drive a sustainable future.

The panel is followed by closing remarks by Dr Liz Brogden, Hudson Smith.

CPD

3 formal points of CPD on completion of questions relating to the three hours of presentations. Purchase access to the questions below.

1 formal point on completion of the questions.

Cost

General: $60
Parlour Collective / ACAN / Architects Declare : $40
(Sign in to your Parlour Collective account to access Collective pricing. ACAN & Architects Declare members should contact their organisation for a discount code.)
Concession: $20

Learning objectives

To increase understanding of the climate crisis and its impact on the built environment
To gain increased knowledge of Indigenous perspectives, Designing and Caring for Country
To gain increased knowledge of policy and practice approaches to tackling the climate crisis
To gain increased knowledge of design approaches to environmental adaptation and resilience

Performance criteria/Units of competency