VIRTUAL Barcelona

Abstract

Conversations on softening the effects of climate change often center around adaptations, resilience, and a re-defining of the urban environment. The Building Industry promises structures contributing to a healthier planet that often stays out of reach. Missing is the healthy resident of the city, a protagonist on the path to a healthier planet. The urban fabric is a composition of materials we make and surround ourselves with. They are the building blocks of the urban environment, and their health impacts are felt throughout it. Each material choice made creates ripple effects across the globe. We must decide if those effects are positive or negative. The level of carbon emissions and the health impacts of a product stems from the components it is made of, affecting planetary and human health. Going forward, we cannot build new, we must reuse what we have. It is a crossroads at which we, on the one hand, must embrace the existing with its potentially hazardous, undeclared content; and, on the other hand, build a holistic structure of transparency, avoidance of harmful components, and factoring in care from the beginning. The implications are both technical as well as cultural. Remembering traditional product compositions and building methods pose solutions. They nudge us to update core values of the Built Environment such as revenue, performance, timelines, and upkeep. This paper explores the role of material compositions of products and building methods and draws conclusions on the correlation of climate, circularity, and culture in a healthier city.