Building a Planetary Solution: Regenerative Architectural Strategies for a Planet in Crisis

The life cycle of the built environment—the production, operation, and, ultimately, disposal of buildings and infrastructure (and their aggregation as towns and cities)—currently accounts for nearly half of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, more than half of solid waste generation, and nearly three-quarters of energy consumption. Yet these statistics fail to capture the range of systemic challenges we face as a consequence of our unique and ubiquitous capacity to produce and consume the artifacts of our industriousness. As we approach this critical planetary threshold, what scientists describe as a “climate tipping point,” how can we as architects (with our colleagues in the building sector) mitigate or even reverse the ecological and atmospheric impacts of our work? What if, instead of continuing to deplete and degrade our planet’s natural ecosystem—its forests, peatlands, wetlands—the making of global buildings and cities could become a force to incentivize their restoration, reverse climate change, and enhance biodiversity? 

Over the course of a three-day symposium organized by senior critic and Yale Building Lab director Alan Organschi, a diverse array of leading thinkers and makers from the climate, ecosystem, and construction sciences, industrial ecology and manufacturing, design and engineering, finance and policy will convene to examine, debate, and discuss the materials, means, methods, and potential benefits of a new regenerative paradigm for the building sector. 

The symposium kicks off on Thursday, February 20, with a series of tours and workshops in and around New Haven, of timber and bio-based construction, design-build, regenerative and circular materials research, and experiments-in-progress. A series of panels on Friday and Saturday convene speakers around a wide range of topics: the barriers and benefits to system change, resilience and responsiveness in natural systems, circular economy and new materials, new and neglected knowledge networks in the commons, and creating conditions for system change. The keynote conversation, on architecture, science, and planetary governance, takes place on the evening of Friday, February 21.

Symposium participants include Paul Anastas, Deborah Berke, Phillip Bernstein, Stephanie Carlisle, Catherine DeWolf, Ana María Durán Calisto, Anna Dyson, Christian Gäth, Eva Gladek, Daniel Ibañez, Indy Johar, Sara Kuebbing, Matti Kuittinen, David Lewis, Tanya Luthi, Maurie McInnis, Philipp Misselwitz, Kiel Moe, Alan Organschi, Marc Palahí, Alex Peters, Vyjayanthi Rao, Barbara Reck, Jennifer Russell, Karen Seto, Andrew Waugh, Lindsey Wikstrom, Mark Wishnie, and Julie Zimmerman.

The full schedule is available online; registeration is available for in-person or virtual attendance.

Building a Planetary Solution: Regenerative Architectural Strategies for a Planet in Crisis is supported by the J. Irwin Miller Endowment at the Yale School of Architecture.