At this event we will be launching the Students Climate Action Network, a new arm of the Architects’ Climate Action Network. The objective of this network is to facilitate intra-university collaboration, events and knowledge sharing, highlighting the immense power of student agency. It is an organic continuation of our Climate Curriculum Campaign: seeking to embed ACAN’s core aims into the curriculum.

_________________________________________

40% of the UK’s carbon emissions are attributed to the construction and built environment industries, and yet students are not being equipped with the skills to mitigate this. 76.9% of respondents to our student survey feel ill-equipped to combat the climate emergency. This has to change.

Over the past 6 months we have been holding climate action workshops with student cohorts, emphasising the urgent need to take action, and how you can do so as a student of the built environment. We now wish to share the insights we have gained, giving students across the UK the confidence to demand a climate literate education. In September 2019, only four student action groups existed. Now, there are fourteen and the momentum is growing.

Join us on the 2nd March to learn why, and how, you can take action. Together, Students CAN tackle the climate emergency!

Please note: this event is open to both students and tutors of all built environment disciplines. We want to break down barriers of communication. All are welcome!

_________________________________________

Speakers:

Nana Biamah-Ofusu - Nana Biamah-Ofosu as an architectural designer, researcher and writer practicing in London, UK. She combines practice with teaching at the Department of Architecture and Landscape at Kingston School of Art and The Architectural Association School of Architecture in London where she is a diploma unit master. Nana is particularly drawn to the complexities of the modern African city and the relationship between the individual artefact, the house, and its connections to the collective, the fabric and structure of the city. Her current research includes investigating the African compound house as a housing typology. Nana is one of five members of the second cohort of New Architecture Writers. Her work has been published in the UK architectural press as well as internationally as a finalist for the Berkeley Prize for Undergraduate Architectural Design Excellence. She has also exhibited internationally as part of the Forum da Malagueira exhibition by Drawing Matter Trust in Evora, Portugal. Nana previously delivered the Architectural Drawing Summer School, sponsored by the Royal Fine Arts Commission Trust, Drawing Matter Trust and Kingston University.

Charlie Edmonds - Charlie is a recent graduate of the MAUD program at Cambridge. He founded Future Architects Front (FAF) with a small group of like-minded early-career practitioners. As part of FAF, Charlie authored the RIBA Open Letter which demands that the exploitative and dysfunctional mechanisms of architectural education and practice be addressed by our leading institutions. The letter received over 1800 signatures and is currently awaiting a response.

Scott McAulay - Scott is a full-time climate justice activist, climate literacy educator and founder of the Anthropocene Architecture School (AAS). The AAS started in 2019 as a one-off, theatrical protest of architectural climate inaction, and has evolved an internationally recognised Climate Emergency educational platform. A recent RIBAJ Rising Star, Scott sits on the RIAS Sustainability Working Group, is a past Arts Coordinator of Extinction Rebellion Scotland, and is a coordinator of ACAN’s Carbon Literacy Working Group.

Students of Climate Action:

Eleanor Derbyshire - Masters student at University of Sheffield and chair of Students for Climate Action

Nicola Mead - Masters student at UWE and founding member of WECAN

Matthew Pembery - Undergraduate student and climate activist at University of Bath

ACAN’s Overarching Aims

Decarbonise now: We seek to radically transform the regulatory, economic and cultural landscape in which our built environment is made, operated and renewed in order to facilitate rapid decarbonisation of the built environment.

Ecological Regeneration: We advocate the immediate adoption of regenerative & ecological principles in order to green the built environment, prioritise communities and ecosystems at threat and promote the recovery and restoration of natural environments.

Cultural Transformation: We call for a complete remodelling of our professional culture. We must challenge and redefine the value systems at the heart of our industry and education system. We seek to create an open network to share resources and knowledge to aid in this transition.

This meeting will take place over Zoom. Don't forget to register for an email a invite link closer to the date.