Architects Declare is a global initiative started in the UK that asks architects to demand a change for justice.

In May 2019, 17 renowned architecture firms launched a declaration of a climate, justice, and biodiversity emergency now known as Construction Declares. The group includes architects, engineers, and more disciplines who all signed a pledge that would define and expand sustainability efforts of future works.

Soon after the original UK Architects Declare, similar groups formed across the globe as others used the Declare name to make an impact on the profession and the world. Michael Pawlyn of Architects Declare explains that sustainable architecture today tends to “just mitigate negatives”—or do less damage than a traditional building—instead of designing to do no damage or create a positive impact.

n an interview, Pawlyn shared, “There’s something inherently problematic in the framing of sustainability that implies the best you can aspire to is neutrality, and anything less than that is just part of a degenerative downward cycle. We urgently need to look at means to be regenerative, which is to get into a positive cycle in which everything we do we’re trying to have a positive impact – in terms of restoring ecosystems, taking carbon out of the atmosphere, regarding communities and so on.”

Architects Declare is a global initiative started in the UK that asks architects to demand a change for justice.

This belief was summarized into 11 core changes or requirements. The requirements set by UK Architects Declare include:

• Raise awareness of the climate and biodiversity emergencies and the urgent need for action amongst our clients and supply chains.
• Advocate for faster change in our industry towards regenerative design practices and a higher Governmental funding priority to support this.
• Establish climate and biodiversity mitigation principles as the key measure of our industry’s success: demonstrated through awards, prizes and listings.
• Share knowledge and research to that end on an open-source basis.
• Evaluate all new projects against the aspiration to contribute positively to mitigating climate breakdown, and encourage our clients to adopt this approach.
• Upgrade existing buildings for extended use as a more carbon-efficient alternative to demolition and new build whenever there is a viable choice.
• Include life cycle costing, whole-life carbon modeling and post-occupancy evaluation as part of our basic scope of work, to reduce both embodied and operational resource use.
• Adopt more regenerative design principles in our studios, with the aim of designing architecture and urbanism that goes beyond the standard of net-zero carbon in use.
• Collaborate with engineers, contractors, and clients to further reduce construction waste.
• Accelerate the shift to low embodied carbon materials in all our work.
• Minimize wasteful use of resources in architecture and urban planning, both in quantum and in detail.[…]

Continue reading: Architects Worldwide Declare a Climate and Biodiversity Emergency