While LEED and other sustainable design certification programs have fostered awareness and growth of ‘green’ design for the past 30 years, the building community is falling short of targets established for 2030 and 2050. The industry is at a perilous moment: the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global average temperature to a 1.5-degree increase is likely unattainable. The 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report and the recent 4th National Climate Assessment are stark in their evaluation of the risks due to climate change. By focusing primarily on energy savings, the profession fails to recognize and address the inextricable nature of the social, natural, and built systems that support all living things; climate change demands not only better energy performance, but transformative change, requiring fundamental shifts in attitude, thinking, and practice toward a more effective and holistic approach to design. How do we achieve positive action, and what will new modes of practice look like?

Celebrating 50 years in practice and looking to the future, ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge co-hosts this interactive program, taking a 360-degree look at where we are—and what comes next - in our response to the growing crisis presented by climate change.

Join us for a conversation with a diverse cross-section of voices—building owners, architects, engineers, builders, and academic experts—to explore how the design and building industry can move beyond checklists to develop and embrace more resilient planning, design, and construction processes that engage the building community as stewards for future generations.

Schedule of Events:

2:00 pm – 2:15 pm
Opening remarks and Introduction of speakers
Victor Agran – ARC, Senior Associate
Alisa Nagano – ARC, Associate
Jean Carroon FAIA – 2019 BSA/AIA President

2:15 pm – 3:05 pm
Session 1: Confronting the Crisis
Bill Reed – Principal, Regenesis, Founder of IDC, Arlington, MA
Andrea Atkinson – Founder / Executive Director, One Square World, Boston
Robert Horsburgh, Jr. – BU Professor of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Medicine, Boston
Samuel Myers – Harvard University Center for the Environment, Cambridge
Stephen Porder – Assistant Provost for Sustainability/Associate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence, RI

3:05 pm – 3:35 pm
Open Discussion

3:35 pm – 3:50 pm
Coffee Break

3:50 pm – 5:00 pm
Session 2: Change Agents
Julie Newman – Director of Sustainability, MIT, Cambridge
Amanda Garvey – Associate, Thornton Tomasetti, Boston
Norm Lamonde – Sr. Project and Sustainability Manager, Turner Construction Company, Boston
Alison Brizius– Director of Climate & Environmental Planning Boston, City of Boston
Iram Farooq – Assistant City Manager Community Development, City of Cambridge
Nico Kienzl – Director, Atelier Ten, New York City

5:00 pm – 5:40 pm
Open Discussion

5:40 pm – 6:00 pm
Closing Remarks
Sarah Slaughter, President and CEO, Built Environment Coalition, Cambridge

6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Reception
BSA Space, Salt Gallery

2 LU/HSW AIA credits are available.

Organized by ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge

Event Sponsors:

Hosted by the Boston Society of Architects/AIA