Climate Emergency Forum

16/10/19: Forum 1 – Gathering ideas

The first climate emergency forum in mid-October brought staff and students together from across the department to discuss what we can do to reduce our carbon footprint as individuals, as a department and as a university. The event was well attended, with ideas being contributed by students from all year groups as well as tutors and the heads of year. It was interesting to observe how these suggestions were often reflective of the contributor’s particular stage of education.

Among the first and second year students there was a focus on changes relating to the syllabus. These included the suggestion of a retrofit project in design studio, as well as a potential lecture series from environmentally driven architects. The upper years leaned more towards ideas based upon the acquisition of specific knowledge, proposing a best practice guide for low carbon building materials and technologies, and questioning whether postgraduate research projects could be integrated into design studio work. Staff generally had a more holistic overview of what may be effective, asking whether a department manifesto could be created to encourage a collective culture of environmental awareness that would feed into both the lifestyles and the design work of members of the department.

04/12/19: Forum 2 – Action points

During the second forum the ideas generated in the first session were scrutinized in further detail. The likely impact and feasibility of each suggestion was discussed by the group as a means of deciding which would be most worth pursuing. We now have a list of thirteen refined action points ready to be broached with the relevant parties and eventually put into action.