En el marco de la Conferencia del Cambio Climático organizada por las Naciones Unidas, muchas cosas están pasando y decisiones cruciales se van a tomar. Interesante ahí es no sólo informarse sino actuar.

¿Dónde se sitúa el Design en todo este debate?.

Querida Red DESIS – COLOMBIA: Los invitamos a visitar el sitio de la Conferencia http://en.cop15.dk/frontpage y preguntarse qué tanto saben, y qué tanto pueden hacer desde su actividad cotidiana:

The Climate Quiz

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For more information on how to answer questions and challenge your friends see the help page in the Climate Quiz window:  http://en.cop15.dk/climate+quiz

Y acá abajo encontrarán parte  del MANIFESTO frente a Copenhagen, escrito por la Unión Internacional de Arquitectos…

Recuerden: arte, arquitectura, design…. podemos trabajar unidos.

INTERNATIONAL UNION OF ARCHITECTS (UIA)

The International Union of Architects is committed to making our world Sustainable by

Design.

[…]

The UIA is committed to reducing, or reversing, the negative impact of the built environment on

the global climate. Here at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen the UIA is

initiating its Sustainable by Design strategy, which will lead to the adoption of practical

programmes at the UIA World Congress and General Assembly in Tokyo in 2011.

The UIA will work to:

• Foster awareness and practical knowledge among architects, engineers, clients, investors,

contractors, statutory authorities and the wider community on how building design, urban

design and regional planning affect society’s environmental impact and can contribute to

sustainable development and redevelopment.

• Serve the Millennium Development Goals and acknowledge wisdom from the past to improve

the quality of life for all communities through sustainable development, whilst remaining open

to new ideas.

• Formulate, in cooperation with other stakeholders, global guidelines with clear objectives,

criteria and methods for sustainable architecture and built environments

• Establish Sustainable by Design as a universal architectural concept, by improving

knowledge, strategies and methods across different climatic, political, social and cultural

contexts.

• Require more and better education and training on Sustainability by Design within existing

academic and professional development programmes, in accordance with the UNESCO-UIA

Charter for Architectural Education.

SUSTAINABLE BY DESIGN

Architecture must utilise holistic, integrative methods from the smallest scale up through that of

city and regional planning, never forgetting that buildings, landscapes, the natural environment

and infrastructures are all essential elements in creating a sustainable future. A careful and

considerate design of forms, geometry and spatial strategies, married with the appropriate

materials, equipment and functional distribution can reduce the use of resources, greenhouse gas

emissions and overall environmental impact by 50% to 80%.

Sustainable by Design: Strategy

• Sustainable by Design begins with the earliest stages of a project and requires

commitments between all the stakeholders: clients, designers, engineers, authorities,

contractors, owners, users and the community.

• Sustainable by Design incorporates all aspects of construction AND future use based on full

Life Cycle Analysis and Management.

• Sustainable by Design optimises efficiency through design. Renewable energies, high

performance and environmentally benign technologies are integrated to the greatest practical

extent in the project conception.

• Sustainable by Design recognises that all architecture and planning projects are part of a

complex interactive system, linked to their wider natural surroundings, and reflect the

heritage, culture, and social values of the daily life of the community.

• Sustainable by Design seeks healthy materials for healthy buildings, ecologically and

socially respectful land-use, and an aesthetic sensitivity that inspires, affirms and ennobles.

• Sustainable by Design aims to significantly reduce carbon imprints, hazardous materials

and technologies and all other adverse human effects of the built environment on the natural

environment.

• Sustainable by Design endeavours to improve the quality of life, promote equity both locally

and globally, advance economic well-being and provide opportunities for community

engagement and empowerment.

• Sustainable by Design recognises the local and planetary interdependence of all people. It

acknowledges that urban populations depend on an integrated, interdependent, and

sustainable rural-urban system for their life support systems (clean water and air, food,

shelter, work, education, health, cultural opportunity, and the like).

• Sustainable by Design endorses UNESCO’s statement that cultural diversity, as a source of

exchange, innovation and creativity, is as necessary for humankind as biodiversity is for

nature.

Sustainable by Design:  Implementation

The UIA Council has extended the Architecture for a Sustainable Future Work Programme’s

terms of reference, by establishing an international project team to develop practical methods for

implementing the Sustainable by Design Strategy.  The UIA will work directly with all of its 124

member countries to develop specific, national plans for implementing the Sustainable by

Design Strategy over the coming year. The Sustainable by Design Mission will then be

launched at the UIA World Congress in Tokyo in 2011, and submitted for formal adoption at the

2011 UIA General Assembly.

Louise Cox  AM

UIA President on behalf of UIA

Presentation to the COP15 Meeting, Copenhagen, Denmark

International Union of Architects

December 2009