Abstract
PurposeExcessive amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) undoubtedly lead to climate change, which directly affects both the natural and the built environment. Observing the impact of climate change on the construction industry, this paper examines sustainable architectural design as a tool to mitigate climate change.Design/methodology/approachTo achieve the previous goal, the authors conduct a comprehensive documentary analysis of three types of sources: (1) scholarly articles in the fields of climate research, sustainable construction, green buildings and sustainable architecture; (2) contemporary global reports on climate change and its impact on the built environment and (3) practitioners' guides explaining practical architectural solutions to the climate crisis.FindingsThe systematic analysis provides three types of results: objectives, strategies and principles of sustainable architectural design aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change. On the one hand, the research results provide a solid basis for further conceptual research into architectural design responsive to the effects of changing climate. On the other hand, the detailed strategies and principles are relevant for urban designers and architects.Originality/valueAmong a range of literature in the field of climate change and its effects on the built environment, a particular value of the paper is in addressing a very local level, i.e. the level of individual building and its immediate surroundings. More specifically, this paper provides concrete design components that help reduce CO2 emissions, finally decreasing the vulnerability index of urban systems.
Highlights
The Earth’s climate has been changing throughout its history
As a result of the human activities, causing an increase in the levels of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere, the climate is changing beyond its natural variability (Younger et al, 2008; Altomonte, 2008; Wilby, 2007; LCCP, 2002; IPCC, 2019)
The causes of climate change stem from urbanization and urban agglomerations: (1) occupying less than 2% of the global land area, 4.2 billion people currently live in cities aiming to reach 70% of global population in 2050 (IPCC, 2014b); (2) 90% of this urban growth will occur in future megacities (UN DESA, 2019); (3) cities are great energy consumers
Summary
The Earth’s climate has been changing throughout its history. Until now, this has happened mostly due to natural causes. Among a range of established techniques for countering the effect of rising temperatures in urban areas, the following proved to be efficient: reducing building densities; changing building height, spacing and street orientation to increase shade and reduce insolation receipt; enhancing natural ventilation through a variation of building height and density; achieving effective solar shading using trees and vegetation; use of high-albedo (reflective) building materials; improved building and cooling system design and incorporation of large areas of vegetation and water features within the urban landscape Such mechanisms address the challenges that may appear whilst creating new designs or recycling the existing building stock (Sijakovic and Peric, 2014, 2018; Sijakovic, 2015). Cultural diversity is as essential for the identity of societies as biodiversity is for the nature
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