Climate adaptation in placemaking and building design

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Climate change is resulting in warmer, wetter winters and hotter, drier summers in the UK. Trends that are set in continue – and escalate – in the years ahead. Warmer temperatures result in more moisture in the air, which leads to more intense rainfall. At the same time, a warming climate dries out the land through increased evaporation, which leaves it less able to absorb water, resulting in a cycle of more droughts and more flooding, and that’s before we take the impact of increased urbanisation into account.^[1]

The latest climate adaptation progress report published in April 2025 by the Climate Change Committee (CCC) finds that the current approach to adaptation is not working:

The UK’s preparations for climate change are inadequate. Delivery of effective adaptation remains limited and, despite some progress, planning for adaptation continues to be piecemeal and disjointed. The vast majority of our assessment outcomes have the same low scores as in 2023. In terms of adaptation delivery, we do not find evidence to score a single outcome as ‘good’. Adaptation progress is either too slow, has stalled, or is heading in the wrong direction.^[2]

The CCC assesses progress every two years across five key areas (land, nature and food; infrastructure; built environment and communities; health and wellbeing; and the economy) by tracking 46 desired outcomes, which include managing urban heat risks; prioritising climate resilience in the planning system; and managing and identifying interdependencies between different areas of critical infrastructure.

This progress assessment looks at both planning and delivery for each of these 46 outcomes. In terms of plans and policies, just 3 of the 46 are considered good, 9 are insufficient, 33 are limited or partial and 1 was unable to be evaluated. In terms of delivery and implementation, the picture is even worse, with progress towards 12 outcomes deemed insufficient, 25 limited or partial, and 9 unable to be evaluated, in many cases due to a lack of data.

This lack of progress indicates that key risks are not being managed. The CCC’s list includes:

• Increasing threats to nature and challenges to food production from extreme weather (at least 59% of top-quality agricultural land is already at risk from flooding).
• Extreme weather will more frequently disrupt the functioning of key infrastructure (more than a third of the total length of roads and railways is at risk of flooding, and this is predicted to rise to around a half by 2050).
• An increasing number of properties will be at risk of flooding or overheating (from the 6.5 million homes currently at risk to ~8m homes [25% of all properties] in 2050).
• Future heat will risk the health and lives of vulnerable people (potentially exceeding 10,000 heat-related deaths in an average year in the UK by 2050).
• Climate change will create challenges to economic prosperity (which could impact economic output by up to 7% of GDP by 2050).^[3]

Although the overall picture might look bleak as governments continue to kick the can down the road for both climate mitigation and adaptation, there is increasing evidence in support of a range of connected strategies for adapting to climate change. Here we look at how some of these strategies have been introduced when building new developments or regenerating/updating ageing infrastructure in existing places.

1. Spatial planning

Once other Net Zero policies have been put into place, it is location that will have the biggest impact on the carbon emissions of a new development, because it defines travel and infrastructure requirements. It is therefore a key factor in the Greater Cambridge growth strategy.

Siting new developments near to transport hubs is an idea that was a central part of URBED’s winning entry to the Wolfson Economics Prize back in 2014, and which has become increasingly accepted in mainstream and political discourse about housing development. But location alone doesn’t make a sustainable and resilient neighbourhood – URBED’s proposal placed new housing in close proximity to existing social and physical infrastructure, with the aim of creating neighbourhoods that support the formation of new communities, rather than lifeless dormitory developments.

2. Using Green-Blue infrastructure to deliver multiple benefits

With existing infrastructure under strain, and any new development inevitably having an impact on the chosen site and its surrounding area, there are multiple benefits to be provided by incorporating Green-Blue infrastructure (GBI) from the beginning stages of a new development. From a climate adaptation perspective, these benefits include decreasing the urban heat island effect and increasing ambient cooling; improving air quality; managing water; and supporting and enhancing biodiversity. As such, it is now considered essential infrastructure by the Institute of Chartered Engineers. It is also a focus of the 2024 London Climate Resilience Review.

Health and wellbeing

GBI features such as planting, trees, green or brown roofs and walls and bodies of water all reduce the urban heat island effect, where heat is trapped due to buildings and hard surfaces absorbing and releasing heat from sunlight and other sources (cars, air conditioning etc.), resulting in higher air temperatures than in surrounding areas. This is achieved by increasing ambient cooling and reducing temperatures through the provision of shade, sunlight reflection, and evaporative cooling.^[4] These same features also have an important role to play in reducing pollution levels and increasing air quality. (Figs. 1-2)

If people have access to GBI that becomes incorporated into everyday life, it has been estimated that the increased physical activity associated with access to good quality green space could save the NHS £2.1 billion every year.^[5]

Water management

Adapting to climate change focuses on managing both too much and too little water. Water scarcity continues to be one of the main issues that result in the slowing down of development in some parts of the country, most notably the South East. Methods for increasing water retention, storage and reuse at the neighbourhood level are becoming more frequently used, particularly as part of wider sustainable urban drainage systems (SuDS), which range from rainwater harvesting, rain gardens, green roofs, permeable or porous surfaces, channels, rills and swales, to tree pits, basins, ponds, wetlands, and sponge cities (Figs. 3-4).

With more extreme weather and more parts of the UK at risk of flooding, the management of excess water through SuDS has become a key element of wider strategies to manage flood risk at different scales.

Biodiversity

Biodiversity loss and environmental degradation have gone hand in hand with climate change, and as more land is used for urbanisation, the case is increasingly made for conserving and enhancing biodiversity and habitat networks within the urban environment.

Informed and context-specific selection of trees and plants can contribute to improved urban biodiversity within and across site boundaries through a variety of green features. The more connectivity between these green features, the greater the potential to increase biodiversity, and this biodiversity improves the resilience of GBI, as well as the health and wellbeing benefits it provides.

3. Reducing car dependency

Connected, sustainable neighbourhoods

Historically, most necessary amenities were available within a settlement. Over the last century our lives and spheres of everyday movement have dramatically expanded, and there are many reasons why people will continue to work, learn and access different forms of infrastructure away from the place in which they live. Although now mired in conspiracy theory-induced controversy, many of the ideas about making better places have been incorporated into the concept of 15-minute cities.

It is often argued that designing for the elderly or the very young results in a better places for all, and this is one approach to improving heath – defined by the WHO as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”^[6] – by tackling interrelated issues such as childhood obesity, social isolation, air pollution and the effects of extreme temperature.

Increasing walking and cycling

From a climate adaptation perspective, many new developments have aimed to deprioritise private vehicles and encourage walking, cycling and more efficient forms of public transport (Figs. 5-6). In addition to focusing on streets over roads, the aim is to reduce the amount of hard surfacing in order to decrease the overall amount of embodied carbon in the materials that are used, and to create greener spaces with permeable surfaces that are more resilient to heat and intense rainfall.

Good design also includes integrating street planting and trees for microclimatic benefits, making walking and cycling more comfortable in all weather conditions; establishing safe routes that are overlooked; increasing public transport access (which is more likely to be viable in areas that have sufficient population density to drive demand and cover costs); integrating space for different types of bikes (including cargo and e-bikes); and keeping vehicular traffic to speeds that enable flow whilst potentially reducing emissions.

4. Building healthy, sustainable homes

At the building level, a focus on climate adaptation includes a range of measures for improving ventilation and air quality, thermal comfort, and water management.

People now spend the majority (>90%) of their time indoors. There is a significant body of research that shows the influence of our indoor (as well as outdoor) environment on mental and physical health and wellbeing. Recent work in this area includes the collaborative HEARTH research project, which examines how the transition to net zero can benefit vulnerable populations by reducing heat related illnesses and improving living conditions during extreme heat events. This is also closely connected to the NHS’s most recent adaptation framework and the UKGBC’s Climate Resilience Roadmap, which includes guidance on embedding climate resilience at each stage of the RIBA Plan of Work.

Indoor air quality is determined by the quality of the mechanical or passive building ventilation and its ability to manage everyday air flow and VOCs from household activities (e.g. cooking with gas, using certain chemicals for cleaning etc.) and materials used in construction and decoration.

Overheating is minimised by increasing ambient cooling with green or brown roofs or other reflective materials; form factors, building orientations and shading mechanisms that enable the management for air flow, solar gain and solar reflectance.

Whilst some forms of design – such as Passivhaus standards – have established evidence bases, other building methods can be understood, tested and adapted using building performance evaluation.

Both embodied and operational carbon emissions can be reduced through the above strategies, the fixtures and compliances used within the home, and the choice of materials used for construction. A focus on climate adaptation has led to the development of more sustainable versions of existing fossil fuel intensive building materials, as well as a resurgence of interest in breathable, (often local), lower carbon materials, many of which have a long history of use in vernacular architecture. The latter in particular fits also with the increased focus on the circular economy within construction.

All of the strategies mentioned above take different, but complementary, approaches to climate adaptation. Given that homes built today will still be in use in 60-80 years’ time, good design is critical. A focus on climate adaptation in building design and placemaking involves taking strategic decisions to build in locations that can best manage increased growth; reducing embodied and operational carbon through building design and the intelligent use of materials; making use of cradle-to-cradle design; and prioritizing creative and adaptive use of existing buildings where possible. It also involves understanding the landscape in which the development site is located and building in a way that has the least impact on this site; using green and blue infrastructure to support new development and the regeneration of existing places; and taking an evidence-based approach to all of the above to really understand what works, where adaptation is effective and where outcomes are overstated, in order to inform future decisions. The climate as we approach the turn of the next century will be very different to what it is today. Based on current trajectories, adaptation alone will not be enough, and there is a narrowing window of opportunity to seriously address climate mitigation. Yet for those of us working in the built environment – as planners, architects, suppliers, developers, researchers, policy makers and more – adaptation needs to be an integral, and constantly evolving aspect of our work.

Related resources:

• Water efficiency and reuse in housing
• Shading for housing
• Overheating in new homes
• Overheating in retrofit and existing homes
• Early stage embodied carbon tool for low rise housing development
• 2025 GHA Conference summary report

^[1] Prospect (2025) Why isn’t it raining? https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/environment-news/climate-change/70022/why-isnt-it-raining-extreme-weather

^[2] CCC (2025) Progress in adapting to climate change: 2025 report to Parliament. https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/progress-in-adapting-to-climate-change-2025/#publication-downloads

^[3] Ibid

^[4] MIT Climate Portal (2021) Urban Heat Islands. https://climate.mit.edu/explainers/urban-heat-islands

^[5]  Defra (2010) Defra’s climate change plan. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/69254/pb13358-climate-change-plan-2010-100324.pdf

^[6] WHO (no date) What is the WHO definition of health? https://www.who.int/about/frequently-asked-questions

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