⟵ Resiliency & Climate Response
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Mission:
Meetings:
2025 Chair:
AIA 2025 Chair-Elect:
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Join our email list to hear about upcoming events.
Want to join the committee? Fill out this form. Meetings are held (typically) every third Thursday at 10:30am at AIA Austin office.
WHAT IS RESILIENCE?
Resilience touches many sectors of design and construction, and embraces cross-disciplinary collaboration. We are continually learning about the various lenses to view resilience. We welcome diverse viewpoints and experiences in this conversation.
Our main focus as a committee is translating these lenses into active advocacy within our region.
Committee involvement looks like monthly member meetings, quarterly roundtables (open to the public). We also form separate task groups with specific focus areas for action.
CURRENT TASK GROUPS
- Bird safe design
- Green infrastructure (green land use)
- Biobased + low carbon materials
- Partnership with Austin Resilience Network
NEWS
April 10, 2025
2024 IRC Appendix BL: Hemp Lime (Hempcrete) Construction approved by Austin City Council as a technical code for City of Austin. This provides a prescriptive pathway to permitting for the biomaterial. Read our letter of support here.
ROUNDTABLES
We host quarterly roundtables to invite educational presentations and conversation between our community and local experts in policy, resiliency, and more. If you have an idea for a roundtable topic, please reach out.
Past Roundtables
COA Climate Adaptation Design Guide for Community Facilities
February 24, 2025
How is Austin preparing for a changing climate? What innovative efforts are shaping the city’s future? How will these programs of action influence the built fabric, and create a more robust and enduring urban environment? These questions ground a presentation led byMarc Coudert of Austin’s Office of Climate Action & Resilience, Robert Eby (Austin Energy), and Sarah Talkington (PARD) who will delve into the latest climate adaptation initiatives.
Participants will get an inside look at content being developed in the draft of the Climate Adaptation Design Guide for Community Facilities. In a subsequent roundtable discussion, participants will explore how the AEC community can inform the Design Guide, offer the leadership team key insights related to the built environment, and play a pivotal role in creating resilient solutions.
Lessons in Wildfire Resilience
May 29, 2025
Join us for an interdisciplinary roundtable on wildfire resilience featuring Dr. Dev Niyogi (University of Texas), Mackenzie Roach (Arup), and Anthony Dente (Verdant Engineering). Topics include community-informed risk analysis, resilient design strategies, and material performance in wildfire conditions. Speakers will share work on climate data tools, the California Wildfire Rebuilding Guide, and fire testing of biobased materials. Questions and discourse will follow the presentations.
RESOURCES + BACKGROUND
GENERAL
City of Austin Climate Adaptation and Resilience Initiatives
City of Austin Climate Equity Plan
City of Austin Comprehensive Climate Action Plan
City of Austin Climate Pollution Reduction Grants
BASED ON CURRENT TASK GROUPS
Bird friendly design
Database of US Bird Safe Design Policies
Bird Friendly Building Toolkit (US Fish and Wildlife)
Bird Friendly Building Design (NYC Audubon + American Bird Conservancy)
City of Austin: Opportunities to Lead Texas in Bird Safe Buildings
City of Austin Watershed: Bird Friendly Design
For further reading:
TBD
Green infrastructure (green land use)
For further reading:
TBD
Biobased + low carbon materials
IRC 2024 Appendices
BI Light Straw-Clay Construction
BK Cob Construction (Monolithic Adobe)
BL Hemp-Lime (Hempcrete) Construction
Building with Biomass, A New American Harvest report
California Straw Building Association
Building Emissions Accounting for Materials
For further reading: