New research reveals insights on climate-inspired urban design projects

A pair of new studies by scientists at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science and the School of Architecture, shed new light on the potential of climate-inspired architectural and urban design proposals, termed "climatopias," to effectively address climate change challenges. These studies analyze both specific high-profile projects and a broader range of proposals, providing valuable frameworks for evaluating their effectiveness, feasibility, and social justice implications.

The first paper focuses on a detailed analysis of four prominent climatopic design projects. Utilizing a novel evaluation approach, the researchers assessed each project on its effectiveness, justice, and feasibility. Key findings indicate that for climatopias to serve as viable climate solutions, they must prioritize their embodied carbon footprint, feature affordable and participatory designs, and possess the potential for actual implementation or stimulate critical discourse around decarbonization and adaptation strategies, enriching community engagement in climate resilience.

The second paper expands the scope of analysis to 66 climatopic proposals from around the globe, aiming to create a typology of these projects based on a range of attributes including climate change response, implementation status, and sociopolitical motivations. The study identifies six primary types of climatopias: Fortify, Forest, Float, Reduce, Re-Use, and Retreat. Among these, the Reduce and Re-Use categories exhibit the most profound engagement with sociopolitical transformation, while the Forest type shows minimal transformation potential.

These studies provide a way to quickly and critically assess whether a given climatopia is effective, just, and feasible – which are criteria of a transformational climate solution,” said Alizé Carrère, a doctoral researcher in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the Rosenstiel School and the Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy. “The results mark an important step toward better identifying whether the latest utopic design schemes for climate change are truly leading toward transformational outcomes, or whether they are simply distractions.”

Climatopias are proposals in architecture and urban planning aimed at addressing climate mitigation and adaptation goals while fostering sociopolitical transformation for their inhabitants. While some climatopias have been realized, many exist only as theoretical concepts or speculative designs.

The emergence of climatopias highlights the necessity for critical evaluation methods to assess their true potential as transformational climate solutions versus being superficial distractions that hinder long-term progress.

“It’s crucial that societies reimagine how we reduce the intensifying damages and losses of a changing climate, said Katharine Mach, professor and chair of the Department of Environmental Science and Policy and senior author of the study.  “But climatopias, identified and analyzed here in their diversity, are reminders of both the possibilities and the perils of assuming that glossy, seemingly easy solutions to entrenched issues can save the day.”

The authors hope that this research is used not only by academics in the adaptation science community, but also by practitioners and other decision-makers, such as city officials who are presented with these plans and must make informed decisions about their viability as climate solutions.

The first study, titled “Defining “Climatopia”: An evaluation framework to support transformational adaptation in climate-inspired utopic design,” was published in the journal One Earth. The authors are Alizé Carrère, Kenneth Broad, and Katharine J. Mach, University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science and Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy.

The second, titled “A typology of climatopias: Visualizations, motivations, and transformations,” was published December 4, 2024 in the journal Environmental Research: Climate. The authors are: Alizé Carrère, Kenneth Broad, Joanna Lombard, Denis Hector, and Katharine J Mach. Carrère, Broad and Mach from the Rosenstiel School, Joanna Lombard and Dennis Hector, University of Miami School of Architecture.

About the University of Miami and Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science

The University of Miami is a private research university and academic health system with a distinct geographic capacity to connect institutions, individuals, and ideas across the hemisphere and around the world. The University’s vibrant and diverse academic community comprises 12 schools and colleges serving more than 19,000 undergraduate and graduate students in more than 180 majors and programs. Located within one of the most dynamic and multicultural cities in the world, the University is building new bridges across geographic, cultural, and intellectual borders, bringing a passion for scholarly excellence, a spirit of innovation, a respect for including and elevating diverse voices, and a commitment to tackling the challenges facing our world. With more than $413 million in research and sponsored program expenditures annually, the University of Miami is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU).

Founded in 1943, the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science is one of the world’s premier research institutions in the continental United States. The school’s basic and applied research programs seek to improve understanding and prediction of Earth’s geological, oceanic, and atmospheric systems by focusing on four key pillars:

*Saving lives through better forecasting of extreme weather and seismic events. 

*Feeding the world by developing sustainable wild fisheries and aquaculture programs. 

*Unlocking ocean secrets through research on climate, weather, energy and medicine. 

*Preserving marine species, including endangered sharks and other fish, as well as protecting and restoring threatened coral reefs.

www.earth.miami.edu