The effects of climate change are showing up faster and sooner than forecasted – increases in average temperatures, rising sea levels, ever more frequent extreme weather conditions, and accelerated rates of biodiversity loss are becoming defining features of the Anthropocene, the human-made geological era.
Today, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) presents its “Summary for Policymakers” report developed by the representatives of the IPCC’s 195 members’ governments in collaboration with international scientists, addressing these dramatic challenges.
The Anthropocene is an ambivalent space where the impact of human activity holds disruptive and adaptive potential, and where architecture can merge with nature to unlock the latter.
Facing the challenges of the Urban Age, as more than half the world’s population today lives within cities, we have to rethink the juxtaposition of nature versus artifact by integrating flora and fauna in our architectural surroundings. As our cities are becoming more and more dense, we have to find ways to bring back nature.
Embassy Lab GRÜNtopia explored the integration of nature in the built environment with an interdisciplinary forum for crossover exchange between international experts, creative professionals, citizens, and decision makers, with Renate Künast, politician for the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen and Member of German Parliament, as the keynote speaker.
