Exploring the Future of Sustainable and Regenerative Urbanism

The 8th webinar in our series focusing on Holcim Awards winning projects examines how a biophilic approach is now giving way to a new biocentric sensibility. Join Neil Davidson (Urban Nature Project in the UK) and Carlos Zarco Sanz (Stream Co-habitat in Turkey) to find out how blue and green systems – even in dense, built-up areas – act as carbon sinks, enhance biodiversity, restore habitats, and forge a bond between people and nature.

The Urban Nature Project (Awards 2023 Silver for Europe) reimagines two hectares of open land at the Natural History Museum’s campus in London, United Kingdom, as a centre for research, training, and education. Learning experiences will be offered in “outdoor living galleries” – immersive exhibits created with landscapes. The new park will be a net-zero carbon project that will improve local biodiversity and contribute to urban cooling.

Stream Co-Habitat (Awards 2023 Silver for Middle East & Africa) is a regenerative project that will help Tuzla, Turkey, recover from its industrial past, emphasizing the links of water to history and culture. It envisions loops of ecological, hydrological, and mobility networks that double the public space, and offer habitats to fauna. It aims to become carbon-positive in ten years.

Join the Q&A session to learn from leading practitioners on successful strategies to integrate social and ecological calls for a new prism on urbanism.

The first of the Holcim Foundation’s regional Fellowships has now started in New York City. The two-week workshop brings together a diverse group of participants from across North America to explore innovative approaches to scale decarbonization and reshape the built environment.

As part of the Fellowship, a panel discussion will be held on August 14, 2024, at the Center for Architecture in New York City. Panelists from SOM, Arup and Henning Larsen will discuss strategies for scaling up, from individual projects to global impact, and the role of emerging professionals in driving the necessary transformation. We will report on the discussions and outcome of the Fellowship after the event concludes – or check out our recent updates on LinkedIn.

Summer has arrived in full force in the northern hemisphere, which is home to around 90% of the global population. With temperatures soaring, let’s explore some sustainable design strategies that help keep buildings cool without consuming excessive energy.

We examine the main strategies for cooling buildings: shading, convection cooling, evaporative cooling, radiative cooling, geo-cooling, and greening – all illustrated with innovative examples from previous winners of the Holcim Foundation Awards competition.