Architectural Education: Methods for Integrating Climate Change Design (CCD) in the Curriculum

The design and construction of buildings are responsible for 40% of the EU's energy use with an associated 36% CO2 emissions,1 significantly contributing to the climate emergency. Thus, the EU aims for climate neutrality by 2050,2 but this needs to be achieved much sooner to avoid exacerbated damage and other related crises and to ensure climate justice.3 However, in architectural education, a significant gap in Climate Change Design CCD) knowledge, skills and competencies exist for both students and educators and is one of the biggest challenges in the construction industry, as noted by the IPCC.4 Over 4000 architects in 18 countries declared 'a biodiversity and climate emergency'5 with over 2500 architecture students and teachers globally signing the ‘architecture education declares’ action with a ‘call for a curriculum change'.6 This paper, as part of the transnational ARCH4CHANGE EU Erasmus + funded project ‘Digital climate change curriculum for architectural education: methods towards carbon neutrality, presents findings from a systematic literature review, focusing on the barriers and successful pedagogical methods to meet this urgent challenge in architecture education.