Speakers
Description
Climate change risks affect various aspects of urban life - social, cultural, spatial, or their intersections. How the built environment is conceived and designed affects how people live, work, and recreate and, at the same time, how people respond to risks. Such risks, like urban heat island effects (UHIs), flooding, etc., threaten urban community resilience and increase vulnerability potentials. Research indicates that vulnerable segments of society tend to be disproportionally affected by these phenomena (IPBES,2019). Integrating inclusive design approaches for building resilient urban spaces to such risks ought to not only enhance the capacity to accommodate climate change risks but also promote health and well-being for all, especially vulnerable users.
In this paper, resilient design and strategic responses are jointly investigated using the university campus as a microcosm (Goloshubin & Pavlova, 2022)—a quasi-closed but scalable urban system. In this context, the Campus acts as an urban lab for studying how the city’s-built environment can be designed to reinforce its resilience against climate risks while maintaining and promoting users’ health and well-being.
This study revolves around three main axes. Firstly, it identifies campus vulnerable users and their unique needs (e.g., refuge or restorativeness) to guide resilient policy-making and healthy design interventions. Introverts, for instance, a less visible/researched but equally significant group, are highly susceptible to mental health challenges, often linked to physical activity and academic performance. The second step was to investigate the Campus’ built environment as per its’ spatial composition. Six family groups of elements emerged – transitional, assembly, orienting, structural, configurational, and boundary- which respond to socio-spatial aspects and different user needs. Finally, the study discusses which aspects are to be prominently affected by climate change risks and, therefore, what design interventions and resilient responses need to be prioritized with a focus, specifically, on the vulnerable users’ needs identified and the spatial composition per case. The ultimate objective of the three axes is to create bridges between healthy campus design strategies and resilient planning.
The research develops a set of principles for resilient and inclusive campus design, addressing climate change risks through a conceptual framework that prioritizes 1. accessibility, 2. adaptability, and 3. inclusivity. The results highlight the profound impact of campus design on users' mental health, physical activity, and campus resilient performance (focusing on and including vulnerable groups). These three elements are intricately interrelated, forming a continuous feedback loop: an inclusive and resilient campus environment promotes mental well-being by fostering a sense of safety, belonging, and support; this, in turn, encourages physical activity through accessible and inviting spaces, which enhances cognitive and emotional functioning. Ultimately, the sense of belonging and attachment inspires users to become involved in (re-)creating resilient and cohesive spaces, which can be continually redesigned and adapted to accommodate the necessary shifts required to cope with the impacts of climate change. This loop exemplifies how campus design can create a self-sustaining system of resilience and well-being, serving as a model for urban spaces in a climate-vulnerable world.
References
Goloshubin, V. and Pavlova, V. (2022). Campus: University or a Modern Urban Structure? Civil Engineering and Architecture. 10(3), pp. 913-922. DOI: 10.13189/cea.2022.100313.
IPBES (2019), Summary for policymakers of the global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, IPBES Secretariat, Bonn, Germany.
| Keywords | social vulnerability; urban design; university campus; climate change risks; inclusivity |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
