ANNUAL CONGRESS 2025

Co-designing Net Zero Strategy in historic settings: Bristol’s case study

Not scheduled

20m

Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul

Oral Track 06 | URBAN CULTURES AND LIVED HERITAGE

Speaker

Dr Katy Karampour (UWE, Bristol)

Description

Despite the widespread acknowledgement of the role of local communities in net zero transition, the approach in areas designated as conservation areas is predominantly expert driven with limited involvement from local communities. Conservation areas in England are areas of special architectural or historic interest, the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance. To protect the special character, there are stricter planning control in place in conservation areas which is perceived to have a negative impact on the uptake of energy efficiency and low carbon heating improvements for houses located in conservation areas (Fetzer, 2023) which are around 2.8 million houses (Historic England, 2021) with potential CO2 emissions of up to 3.2 million tons of annually (Fetzer, 2023).

This presentation interrogates the challenges and aspirations of local communities to protect the character of conservation areas while progressing with net zero transition by reflecting on the findings from engagement workshops with a selected conservation areas in Bristol, Sea Mills. Sea Mills neighbourhood is an intact example of a Garden Suburb in England and Bristol’s finest example of planned post-WWI municipal housing (BCC, 2011). It is widely acknowledged that 20th-century heritage forms a significant layer of history displaying transformation of England’s planning philosophy and culture, accompanied by the emergence of new building types, construction techniques and materials (Twentieth Century Society, 2017).

The intention of the workshops with Sea Mills’ local community were to better understand the challenges that the local community is facing in adapting their homes and to co-design solutions with the local community. This presentation will share learnings from this project by concluding that it is through collaboration with local communities and adopting grassroot approaches that the challenges of net zero transition in designated heritage areas can be addressed.