Beyond the Building: Increasing resilience and reducing emissions in the exterior built environment

Beyond buildings: streets, infrastructure, open spaces and natural systems represent more than 50% of a city’s space. Yet they are often overlooked and considered “in-between” spaces. These places hold vast opportunities for climate and community resilience, emissions reductions, and active biogenic carbon sequestration. Planning and urban design, infrastructure, and landscape architecture hold critical levers improving the mitigation performance of these spaces while unlocking critical co-benefits such as protecting from an increase of flood, heat and air pollution while conserving water and supporting biodiversity, community health, and well-being. 

Moderated by Vincent Martinez, Architecture 2030 President and COO, “Beyond the Building” opens the dialog to learn about the resources for cross-sector collaboration to amplify positive impacts globally. Within the industry, Pamela Conrad, Founder of Climate Positive Design and Chris Hardy, Senior Associate from Sasaki will demonstrate the usage of design strategies and tools that measure and analyze data that can be embodied by infrastructure disciplines.

• Understand biogenic carbon sequestration and its potential in the exterior built environment
• Discuss how infrastructure can improve the mitigation performance while offering multiple co-benefits
• Review industry examples of design strategies and tools that measure and analyze data that can be embodied by infrastructure disciplines