Building a Climate-Resilient City: The built environment

The document argues that current building codes often fail to account for climate change, leaving urban infrastructure vulnerable to increasing temperature variability and extreme weather. It advocates for the adoption of robust design protocols like PIEVC and CCHIP, the mitigation of the urban heat island (UHI) effect through strategic green space planning, and the use of resource-efficiency certifications such as LEED and the Living Building Challenge to create a more resilient urban fabric.

• Alberta is projected to see significant temperature increases if current global greenhouse gas emission rates continue, with potential rises of 2.0°C by the 2030s and 4.0°C by the 2060s compared to the 1990s.
• Existing building codes and standards generally do not incorporate the effects of climate change, creating a need for resilience frameworks that allow cities to "survive, adapt and grow" during disruptions.
• The Public Infrastructure Engineering Vulnerability Committee (PIEVC) protocol and the Climate Change Hazards Information Portal (CCHIP) are identified as key tools for assessing climate risks to specific building components and localized climate parameters.
• The urban heat island (UHI) effect, caused by heat-absorbing materials like concrete and asphalt, increases mortality rates in Canadian cities by 2.3 per cent for every degree above 20°C.
• Mitigating the UHI effect requires urban spatial design that creates a "mosaic" of high-density zones interspersed with green spaces and green belts to provide redundant thermal refugia.
• Resource-efficiency certifications like LEED and the Living Building Challenge (LBC) help reduce environmental impacts; gold-certified LEED buildings specifically emit 34 per cent lower greenhouse gas emissions and use 25 per cent less energy.

APA

Venema, H., & Temmer, J. (2017). Building a Climate-Resilient City: The built environment. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/pcc-brief-climate-resilient-built-environment.pdf

Chicago

Venema, Hank, and Jennifer Temmer. Building a Climate-Resilient City: The built environment. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2017. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/pcc-brief-climate-resilient-built-environment.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Venema |first1=Hank |last2=Temmer |first2=Jennifer |title=Building a Climate-Resilient City: The built environment |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=2017 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/pcc-brief-climate-resilient-built-environment.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{venema2017building, author = {Venema, Hank and Temmer, Jennifer}, title = {{Building a Climate-Resilient City: The built environment}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2017}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/pcc-brief-climate-resilient-built-environment.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }