Calls for a holistic approach to buildings, urban environments and green infrastructure from CIBSE president George Adams and Landscape Institute president Sue Illman opened the 12th annual CIBSE-ASHRAE Technical Symposium at the Dublin Institute of Technology.
The event gives a platform to best practice and research in the build environment from around the world.

A strategy is vital to the adaptation to impacts of climate change on our cities and developing them into better places to live and work, the two presidents said.

Adams and Illman co-signed a letter to Government in February calling for an integrated engineering response to UK flooding. They elaborated on other looming problems such as health impacts of poor air quality, which causes as many deaths as alcohol and drug abuse, and cities overheating caused by urban heat islands which was contributory to 70,000 deaths across Europe in the 2003 heat wave.

Adams said that strategic energy improvement of the built environment and major scale urban planting have been recognised as having the ability to perform a vital role in helping cities adapt to the effects of climate change. Tree canopies, green roofs and facade systems can reduce the heat island effects in hot weather as well as improving city air quality and reducing energy consumption.

Illman flagged examplar projects, such as the Cheonggyecheon riverwalk in Seoul and the Madrid Rio, which are taking an innovative approach to developing urban biodiversity. She said: 'Green infrastructure is as important as grey - we need our landscapes to work harder and deliver more.'

Adams commented that adaptation strategies are needed for cities to improve building performance, reduce heat and pollution. Addressing lower carbon transport arrangements and energy supply were also identified by Adams as key factors needed to achieve sustainable cities or we will continue on the current path towards 4 degrees of climate change.

The CIBSE ASHRAE Technical Symposium concluded on 4 April. The full programme of speakers and posters is at www.cibse.org/symposium2014 and supporting documentation is available from bit.ly/Dublin2014.