The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) released a short educational film meant to teach young students aged 13 to 16 about the relationship between climate change and the built environment, exploring notions of sustainable design. The film introduces concepts such as embodied carbon, brownfield, green infrastructure, sustainable mobility and explains ideas such as adaptive reuse, retrofit, and the use of local materials. The scope of this learning resource is to empower young people to think creatively about how to address the climate crisis through design, helping raise a generation well versed in sustainability principles.
Narrated by award-winning poet and BBC Radio Presenter Rhael ‘LionHeart’ Cape, the film begins by explaining the contribution of the built environment to climate change and introduces several architects that showcase various sustainable design strategies. The film presents a series of real-life case studies such as a new sustainable campus designed for Bristol University, the retrofit of disused social housing in Glasgow and a masterplan for 23,000 new homes. The project familiarises its young audience with the importance of good architecture and showcases a range of career paths within the built environment, such as conservation architect or sustainability lead.
The movie is part of the RIBA National Schools Programme, a series of online, free learning resources meant to help children understand the built environment, its development, and its impact on communities. Other online learning resources focus on sustainable architecture, reuse and retrofit, or healthy cities and propose practical school projects to help children understand and apply architectural and urban planning concepts.
