Green building as urban climate change strategy

Abstract

The building sector has been identified as one of the largest contributors to human-related greenhouse gas emissions but also as one holding great potential to lower its emissions. Due to the concentration of built structures in urban areas, green building has become a major part of urban climate change strategies, but approaches differ considerably. This book discusses local pathways to green building in four selected city regions: Freiburg in Germany, Vancouver in Canada, Brisbane in Australia and Luxembourg City in Luxembourg. The four case studies illustrate both similarities and differences through which green building is realised. The work presented identifies different forms of urban green building that range from experimental building designs and technologies and retrofitted building stock to newly designed neighbourhoods and from policies and regulatory tools to new institutional arrangements and actors. It captures not only endeavours to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings and their associated uses but also considers the wider context and social dimensions of sustainability such as ideas of liveability and affordability. It considers the conditions that foster and promote green building but also factors that inhibit its realisation and critically examines the success and changes over time within the four case studies in order to contribute to ongoing debates around urban sustainability transitions.