How does a professional organization change the way its members work?
The AIA's vehicle for systems change is the Framework for Design Excellence, launched 2020 and recently updated in June 2023. Depending on who you ask, the Framework is either the ten Principles and the high level questions only or the entire Framework website, which includes for each principle a series of focus topics, high-impact actions, best practices, resources, and project examples. The idea is the Framework's guiding questions and supporting resources help project teams crack open the dialogue with clients around sustainability and push teams to think more broadly about the larger impact of their projects. The Framework originated with the AIA COTE Top Ten Awards program. Initially launched in 2005, the COTE Top Ten Measures were revised in 2017 to become what we now know as the Framework Principles. The COTE Top Ten Toolkit, developed in 2018 to help close the information gap in designing high performing, equitable, beautiful buildings, served as the basis for the current Framework website, the latter still lacking the Toolkit's metrics (which live on in the COTE Super Spreadsheet...but that's a story for another day).
At the same time, across the Atlantic the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) was also taking a bold stance on climate. In 2016, they signed on to the UN Global Compact, which required integrating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into their operations, and in 2019, they joined in the declaration of a climate and biodiversity emergency and committed to helping meet the UK government's 2050 goals. That same year they launched the RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge, similar to the AIA 2030 Commitment, collecting metrics on operational energy and embodied carbon but also on potable water use and health and wellbeing. In 2020 RIBA adopted the Climate Framework and introduced a 5-year accreditation cycle for all chartered architects around Mandatory Competencies, of which Climate Literacy is one of three.
This sets the stage for the new RIBA Climate Guide by Mina Hasman. At 280 pages, it is both a robust overview of the challenges we face and a holistic guide to realizing sustainable built environments. Compared to the AIA's Framework for Design Excellence's current web format, which targets project teams looking for a quick summary of issues to consider, RIBA Climate Guide's long form allows Hasman to describe the larger context in which each consideration operates—and the interconnectivity between these considerations. The book is organized across "six core outcome themes" based on the Climate Framework and that tie back to the UN SDGs: Human Factors, Circular Economy, Energy and Carbon, Water, Ecology and Biodiversity, Connectivity and Transport. Each theme is expanded into subcategories organized by "what's the aim, why is it important, how can it be most effectively integrated," and theme-specific global case studies. Each subcategory has a summary diagram that highlights key strategies, a helpful visual mnemonic for those who suffer from bullet-pointed list fatigue. The RIBA Climate Guide also provides abundant endnotes and an online glossary of key concepts, both useful resources to anyone practicing in this space.
Chapter 1: Global and Built Environment Climate Fundamentals does a masterful job of setting the stage for why we as an industry need to take action. It summarizes how the built environment connects to global legislations, commitments, and benchmarks such as IPCC projections, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement, Doughnut Economics, and the Degrowth movement.
Chapter 2: Sustainable Outcomes and Common Threads (Framework Synergies: Design for Integration) readily acknowledges the interconnectivity between the outcome targets outlined in the remaining chapters. RIBA Climate Guide emphasizes a long-term and holistic view of a project within social, environmental, and economic ecosystems, which is reflected in the wider scales of thinking outlined throughout—from policy to planning to buildings. One of the biggest differentiators of the book is the fact that RIBA places the biodiversity emergency up front and on par with the climate emergency, a development we have not yet seen in the US.
Chapter 3: Human factors (Framework Synergies: Design for Equitable Communities; Design for Wellbeing; Design for Discovery) contains many of the same ideas as the Framework, with expanded content around outdoor comfort, biophilic and sensory design, and user engagement. A subsection on social value, defined not only as stakeholder engagement but including issues like community cohesion, economic inequality, and community amenities, much of which is implied but unspoken in the Framework.
Chapter 4: Circular Economy (Framework Synergies: Design for Equitable Communities, Design for Resources, Design for Change) provides a comprehensive overview of the Rs of a circular economy (rethink, reduce, reuse/repurpose, repair, refurbish, recover and recycle) and how they inform how we build,. Particularly notable is the way RIBA Climate Guide expands these concepts beyond building materials to include water, energy, and transit—ideas we are just beginning to explore in the US. The book also highlights concepts around sufficiency, rather than efficiency, and the importance of designing out unnecessary materials.
Chapter 5: Energy and Carbon (Framework Synergies: Design for Integration, Design for Resources, Design for Energy) relinks what has been artificially separated in the Framework, namely that energy modeling and embodied carbon modeling (LCA) should be developed hand-in-hand. Table 5.1 outlines a series of holistic metrics similar to the COTE Super Spreadsheet.
Chapter 6: Water (Framework Synergies: Design for Water, Design for Ecosystems, Design for Change) describes both water cycles and the stresses both upstream and downstream, emphasizing community interconnectedness. Worth noting in the Hazards and Climate Change section are the strategies for different densities and flooding characteristics.
Chapter 7: Ecology and Biodiversity (Framework Synergies: Design for Ecology) provides a much stronger emphasis on the biodiversity crisis and why it matters. Concepts like intelligent densification, bioregional planning and biophilic urbanism are covered in this chapter, approaches not directly covered in the Framework, and the section on sustainable food production and urban farming is worthwhile for its references back to circular economy.
Chapter 8: Connectivity and Transport (Framework Synergies: Design for Equitable Communities, Design for Ecology, Design for Resources) is replete with mobility strategies beyond bike networks and bus stops, including a subsection on the future of transportation.
In summary, the RIBA Climate Guide is a rich companion, not a competitor, to the Framework for Design Excellence. It is a perfect resource for those wanting to zoom out and see the larger picture in which we are all operating.