Climate Crisis

Climate changes underpin a great part of our global efforts today. It is a fundamental requirement for all of us to be conscious of its effects when designing for displacement. The past decade has marked a substantial uptick in both the frequency and magnitude of events - it is seemingly now a monthly occurrence to hear of a devastating wildfire or storm on the news, and while we cannot reasonably change Earth’s natural patterns and rhythms, we can certainly take measured approaches to our responses and preparations to mitigate potential disasters. 

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Global Climate - Extreme Weather Events.png

Back to Macro

Climate Crisis

Fig. MA.C.12; Climate

RESEARCH JUSTIFICATION

The climate emergency underpins a great part of our global efforts today. It is a fundamental requirement for all of us to be conscious of its effects when designing for displacement. The past decade has marked a substantial uptick in both the frequency and magnitude of events - it is seemingly now a monthly occurrence to hear of a devastating wildfire or storm on the news, and while we cannot reasonably change Earth’s natural patterns and rhythms, we can certainly take measured approaches to our responses and preparations to mitigate potential disasters. 

Global Climate Incidence Map

Fig. MA.C.01; Global Climate Incidence Map

Current Climate Outlook

Current Architectural Approach

As the frequency of disasters increases every year, it has become apparent that our modern architecture practices are not suitably prepared for them. Following the industrial revolution, architecture rapidly transitioned as new building materials and technologies have been developed. Our settlements are now vast, interconnected cities and the use of the vernacular is becoming significantly rarer, especially at larger scales.

Today architecture has taken great strides to design sustainably and ethically, taking into consideration carbon footprints, material sourcing, and much more. Movements like Passivhaus design consider how we lower our impact on climate change, but not how we design everyday contexts for the effects of it.

Across the globe, recent disasters have tested the effectiveness of modern architectural design, whether it be development projects or rural villages. Unfortunately, the popularity of the international design style and the subsequent styles that followed often disregard the thoughtfulness required to design for specific climates and regions. Costs and aesthetic are often prioritized over other factors like climate resilience.

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Fig. MA.C.05; Effects of Storm Daniel in Ano Meria - Greece

(Catherine Viette, France 24, 2023)

Buncombe_County_North_Carolina_-_damage_after_Hurricane_Helene_floods.jpg

Fig.MA.C.07; Effects of Hurricane Helene in Buncombe, North Carolina

(NCDOTcommunications, FLIKR, 2024)

Fig.MA.C.06; Effect of Drought in West Imi, Ethiopia

(Eugene Ikua, Concern Worldwide, 2025)

Below are several recent disasters and their devastating effects:

Hurricane Helene - USA: Record flooding and storm damage overwhelmed standard wooden home structures and unprepared infrastructure, displacing over 375,000 households across central east coast of the US.

Storm Daniel – Greece: Flash Floods and over a year’s worth of rain quickly destroyed key infrastructure and submerged entire villages, adding to the ever-growing flood-related displacement figures which now total over 200,000 homes since 2008.

2021-23 Drought – The Horn of Africa: The worst drought to hit the region since 1981. Responsible for the destruction of thousands of acres of crops, the death of hundreds of livestock. In Sudan and South Sudan, around 31.9 million people were in need of humanitarian aid.

Fig. MA.C.04; Extreme Weather Events 1970 - 2023

(Trails and Roots, accessed 2025)

Global Warming

“Warmer temperatures, rising seas and shifting ecosystems are all familiar from the natural ‘glaciation cycle,’ but today’s warming has a different cause and is happening much faster.”

(MIT Climate, 2024)

Earth’s orbital cycles play a dominant role in the natural phases of warming and cooling. These are known as the Milankovitch cycles, which factors in the axial tilts of the Earth and its elliptical orbit around the sun. These have caused steady climate shifts every 40-100,000 years that have resulted in various ice ages. The key differences between these and our current climate change pandemic is root cause of the changes, and how it breaks the natural cycle. The recent global warming is “primarily due to human activities — specifically the direct input of carbon dioxide into Earth’s atmosphere from burning fossil fuels.” (NASA, 2020)

Fig. MA.C.02; Global Mean Surface Temperature 1880 - 2010 (Rebecca Rosen, Atlantic, 2012)

The average concentration of carbon dioxide has significantly increased since the industrial revolution, going from approximately 280 ppm (part per million) before the industrial revolution, to 412ppm in 2023. 350ppm is the stated threshold for which human input outweighs the potential influence of the Milankovitch cycles, indicating the unprecedented impact we have had on our environment. Our environment is now suffering from it, as are our cities and livelihoods, as we now deal with a rapidly changing global climate.

“At the end of the last ice age, ecosystems had a good deal of time to adapt to the warming as it occurred,” (MIT Climate, 2024)

Today, these changes cause a plethora of environmental and human issues, and our infrastructure is at its most vulnerable as our systems are beginning to collapse under the strain of climate change impacts.

Fig. MA.C.03; Global Temperature vs Solar Activity

(NASA, accessed 2025)

Climate Contributors

When designing for climate change it is equally as important to dissect the major contributors of greenhouse gas emissions. Architecture and the larger construction industry is one of the largest polluting sectors, due to several critical factors, such as material production, transport, and building operation costs.

This helps to breakdown where small design changes can have the greatest positive impacts. Shifting material sourcing from foreign exports to local alternatives will inevitably increase costs but it can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of a project.

With a average building lifespan of 50-100 years, energy consumption is a fundamental field to tackle. The upfront cost of employing more passive heating and cooling technologies may not appear to have a drastic impact on the individual building, but over its projected lifespan the reduced energy consumption figures prove to show significant environmental and cost savings.

Fig. MA.C.08; Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Industry (TheRoundUp, 2025)

“Buildings are not just shelter, they're key to mitigating, adapting to climate change and connecting people in your community.”

-Michelle Xuereb ('How Architecture can fight climate change', TED Talk, 2020)

Proactive Design

Earthquake case study

Japan’s experience with earthquakes and proactive responses from modern architecture and engineering is a case study model to understand why it’s crucial to acknowledge the reality of natural events, and how to prepare for them.

Japan is an island nation that lies on the edge of the Eurasian plate where it meets 3 other major plates, creating a seismic epicentre for earthquakes and volcanic fault lines. Japan “experiences 18.5% of global earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more and accounts for 17.5% of global economic losses from natural disasters.” (Prevention Web, 2025)

As such, small quakes and tremors are an almost daily occurrence (approx. 5000 minor earthquakes annually) and forcing the population to learn to live with them. Designing for earthquakes has always been a factor of Japanese architecture, however as architecture shifted away from the vernacular and towards large steel construction, new technologies were required to mitigate these effects at a much larger scale.

Fig. MA.C.11; Benefits of Seismic Isolation on Building Structures during Earthquakes

(Encyclopedia of Natural Disasters, 2016)

There are currently three methods being utilised to protect building from seismic activity:

Earthquake Resistance – reinforcing structures to reduce likelihood of destruction in the event of an earthquake
Tremor Control – vibration absorbing devices within the building structure to reduce effect on structure
Seismic Isolation – seismic load devices fixed under building foundations to combat the ground shakes. These are the most critical elements for larger structures as they allow the base to ‘sway’ slightly with the ground movements, transferring a reduced shake to the building itself.

(Web Japan, 2020)

Fig. MA.C.10; Tectonic Plate Lines surrounding Japan

(Yasuto Itoh, Dynamics of Arc Migration and Amalgamation, 2017)

Future Role of Architecture

Being aware of architecture’s impact on global warming is the first step towards a safer and greener future. The effects of climate changes have a very real impact on human settlements and livelihoods, let alone the environment. There are several key factors that we need to implement to prepare against future disasters.

Building ethically and sustainably is the first step yet choosing where to build is arguably even more crucial. Placing a larger emphasis on forming long-term resilient communities and settlements in lower risk areas will immediately take populations out of immediate danger zones.

With modern analytical technology, we are already aware of which areas are higher risk, the main obstacle is the short-term development thinking. In an already expensive housing market consumers are already less likely or willing to spend extra to prepare for a disaster that may never occur. And developers profit from cheap, unsafe housing, exacerbating the issue. Awareness and incentives can help to change this mindset.

Building or reinforcing core infrastructure to support these communities in the event of a disaster is equally important, as it can help to mitigate the effects and reduce unnecessary damages and displacement.

Retrofitting is another key intervention. Reinforce existing areas and preserve urban fabrics. Existing systems may well be more complex and costly to support, but they have a greater impact on the communities who are already at risk.

Architects need to start taking a more proactive stance, spending a little more upfront for greater long term rewards.

Fig. MA.C.09; A Proactive Strategy vs a Reactive Strategy