Resiliency & Climate Response

Join our email list to hear about upcoming events. Meetings are held (typically) every third Thursday at 10:30am at AIA Austin office.

To strengthen the architecture community’s role in shaping a more resilient, future-ready, and sustainable Austin.

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

Integrative water management + flood mitigation
Green infrastructure, green land use
Bird friendly design
Biobased + low carbon materials
Resilience stations
Bioregional economy

NEWS

New Austin Environmental Directory Released to the Public
December 15, 2025
The new hard-copy edition of the Austin Environmental Directory, a free sourcebook of green issues, products, services, and organizations for Central Texas, has just been released. This is the 11th hard-copy edition since it began in 1995. This theme of the new edition is resiliency, and was inspired when Texas’ electric and water systems crashed during Winter Storm Uri in 2021.
Download the Directory here.

City of Austin adopts Hempcrete Technical Code
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 conversation between our community and local experts in policy, resiliency, and more. If you have an idea for a roundtable topic, please reach out.

Shaded (and Compact and Connected): Building up Austin’s Green Infrastructure
November 17, 2025
Join us to learn about the current street tree focus on green infrastructure in Austin. We’ll take a glimpse at the Functional Green program with Matt Hollon from the Watershed Protection Department, before diving into the current efforts of the Green Infrastructure Working Group (following a Council-approved 2024 Resolution) and their resulting Recommended Roadmap, presented by Michelle Marx from Transportation and Public Works. We’ll leave ample time for discussion and exchange of your ideas!

Bird Friendly Design in Austin: Progress, Input, & the Bigger Lens
August 4, 2025
From “Lights Out” to glazing and other enclosure treatments to migration flyways, birds interact with buildings and vice versa. Join AIA Austin Advocacy Leaders to hear members of the Austin’s Watershed Protection Department and Bird Friendly Working Group as they share their past and current work toward policy recommendations to the City Council this Fall. Discussion will be around how bird-friendly design strategies can support a resilient, ecologically connected city.
View presentation slides here
Austin Bird Friendly Design webpage

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.
Austin Fire Department WUIC overview recording
California Wildfire Rebuilding Guide
Austin WUIC webpage

City of Austin 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 by Marc 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.

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
Austin Resilience Network

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)

Green Infrastructure/Green Land Use Policy
Paris Tree Plan
Biophilic Cities Network

Biobased + Low Carbon Materials

IRC 2024 Appendices
BI Light Straw-Clay Construction
BJ Strawbale Construction
BK Cob Construction (Monolithic Adobe)
BL Hemp-Lime (Hempcrete) Construction
Biobased Materials Collective
Building with Biomass, A New American Harvest report
Parsons Healthy Materials Lab
Building Emissions Accounting for Materials