Research Studio 

Climate Adaptability
 

The Climate Adaptability research studio has been conducted in collaboration with the Spatial Transformations lectureship of the Research Center for the Built Environment (NoorderRuimte Kenniscentrum) of Hanze University of Applied Sciences, jointly with the Master of Architecture program at Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland. The Lake District, UK was selected as a case study of an ultra-low density region facing significant climate change challenges (high flood risk region), whilst also being a UNESCO world-heritage site, characterized by massive tourism and tending towards museumification (sic). Designing for resilience to the effects of climate change was the collective theme. The research aim was to develop and test a specific research by design strategy, based upon the Design Thinking Process diagram developed by the Future Urban Regions lectureship in the Netherlands. The results of this effort have been published in the Sustainability peer-reviewed scientific journal. They reveal that this strategy constitutes a systematic approach to convert the threats of climate change into opportunities by unraveling the potentials of the study area.

The students analyzed in groups and individually the local food, water and energy system, through the perspectives of: art(scape), housing, infrastructure, transport, agriculture, landscape/local eco-system and biodiversity, flooding and other extreme weather phenomena.