2020 has been an incredibly challenging year. The impact of climate change is now unmistakably evident.
CASBE acknowledges the devastating impact the bushfires have had on our social and ecological well-being.
In January this year, the Australian Academy of Science issued a statement emphasising the necessity of drawing from our current knowledge in urban planning, building standards, land and water management as well as our indigenous knowledge, to design and build beyond short-term considerations. Developing new responses to enable a climate resilient built environment needs to be informed by long-term climate forecasts.
A team of international experts in the 100 Resilient Cities program have developed strategies for cities to prepare and responds to climate events.
The definition of resilience has evolved from being a response to a crisis event, to now being understood to as an accumulation of pressure over time. Our cities and urban places need innovative approaches to creating resilience in our built environment. The Declare movements of local governments, architects and engineers are responding to this need.
Resiliency strategies with a system thinking approach include new approaches to infrastructure, urban forest expansion projects and considered cycling networks.
CASBE commends this work. We are working on applying a resilience lens to sustainability in planning, as part of a re-think of our approach to planning and designing our built environment.