European Conference on Regenerative and Adaptative Habitat
Nature is recognized as an essential partner in the fight against climate change. Reversing the degradation of natural ecosystems is a fundamental part of the European Green Deal, which aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. The natural and built environment, as a symbiotic ecosystem, is a central theme for adapting to the climate challenge and reducing carbon emissions, as well as for implementing strategies to regenerate our atmosphere and hydrosphere, our soil, our cities, and our culture.
The first European Conference on Regenerative and Adaptive Habitat, taking place in Portugal, aims to address the challenges of the ecology of the built environment, acknowledging that carbon emissions control environmental costs, requiring knowledge and reflection in the assessment of human habitat. This conference will bring together researchers and professors in the fields of architecture, urban planning, and related areas to discuss how architecture, spatial planning, design, and related public policies can contribute to climate positivity and resilience, understanding and controlling carbon as a tool for a viable and fair “ecological transition.” From this new paradigm, a new methodology for building habitats may emerge.
What is Trans-Carbon Habitat? There is a consensus that we must evolve towards a socio-ecologically feasible way of production and consumption in the medium and long term, in all sectors and in the production of habitats. Trans-Carbon Habitat is a built environment that embodies a commitment to the socio-ecological transition and uses the indicator of global warming potential (GWP) measured in equivalent carbon in a positive and fair way. It is a regenerative, adaptive, and nature-centered habitat.
The Carbon Deal Carbon is the operational indicator of this transition in Europe’s built environment, as part of the European Green Deal, and allows us to measure whether we are achieving climate goals. Carbon has quickly become integral to building sciences within the framework of the new Energy in Buildings Directive and needs to be monitored to effectively contribute to socio-ecological improvements. Other indicators of resilience and regeneration complement carbon by measuring social progress.
Why a European Conference? The European regulatory framework for carbon comes from the European Green Deal and the new Energy and Carbon in Buildings Directive, deriving from the Paris Agreement, and includes the European regulatory framework (new Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, EPBD, and emerging sustainability standards). On a European scale, it allows member states to focus on this complex matter, which is being operationalized at that level, where all European countries have to align.
Objectives. The aim of the event is to enhance the literacy of the architectural and academic communities regarding environmental regeneration and the climate resilience of buildings and the built environment. The event seeks to stimulate innovation in education, planning interventions on the built environment, and design practices, enabling contributions to climate action and promoting adaptive and regenerative development in habitat production. Additionally, it aims to gather academics and researchers into a future network around the new architectural and urban paradigm.
Trans Carbon Habitat Conference 