The Climate Crisis Through Architecture and Cities

What does global warming have to do with architecture?
Why do poor people suffer more when it's hot?
Is a zero-energy building possible?
Why are they eliminating downtown parking?
Why do we need rooftop gardens and vegetable gardens?

This book examines the climate crisis through architectural themes such as urban extinction, attics and semi-basements, building recycling, zero-energy buildings, rooftop gardens, and eco-villages, and explores various solutions to combat global warming through architecture from a youth perspective.
This book provides essential information about architecture and the climate crisis that young people need to know, such as the connection between global warming and architecture, why poor people suffer more when it's hot, whether zero-energy buildings are possible, why eliminating downtown parking would be a good idea, and why rooftop gardens and vegetable gardens are necessary.


The author says that one way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in construction is to build houses that are cool in the summer and warm in the winter, using less energy for heating and cooling in the summer and winter.
He also emphasized that it is important to use buildings for as long as possible, just as we use reusable cups and shopping bags to reduce the use of disposable items such as paper cups and plastic bags.
Furthermore, he points out that we should consider recycling buildings that have outlived their useful life instead of tearing them down.
The process of demolishing a building and building a new one wastes a lot of resources and emits greenhouse gases.
Meanwhile, if passive houses that reduce energy use through efficient housing design are also equipped with energy production functions, it is said that a zero-energy building is possible, where the amount of energy used and the amount of energy produced are almost equal, and the actual energy use becomes 0.
He also says that rooftop farming, rooftop gardens, and urban farming using abandoned schools can be considered to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.


Young people can learn more about global warming in relation to architecture and cities through the diverse and entertaining stories about architecture and the climate crisis contained in this book.
Furthermore, it can serve as a good guide for young people who want to become architects or want to know what the desirable role of architecture is.

How can we reduce carbon emissions in construction? First, we need to build homes that are cool in the summer and warm in the winter, reducing the use of heating and cooling energy in both summer and winter.
We can also consider using buildings that have been built for as long as possible, and recycling buildings that have outlived their useful life instead of tearing them down.
Just as we reduce the use of disposable items such as paper cups and plastic bags and use reusable cups and shopping bags, it is important to use buildings as long as possible once they are built.

--- From the text

Cities are very densely populated, which poses unintended problems due to global warming.
It's natural for people to flock to developed cities, but even if a small village begins to flood, it's possible to relocate all its residents elsewhere.
But if a large city with a population of millions or tens of millions is flooded, the problem is different.
Not only would relocating the entire population be impossible, but the long-established infrastructure would collapse.
--- From the text

Our country is no exception when it comes to the poor suffering more when heat waves or heavy rains occur.
A typical example is people living in semi-basements or attics.
In older neighborhoods of large cities, including Seoul, there are multi-family houses called 'villas', and many of these houses have semi-basement or attic-style living facilities.
Because the rent is cheap, many working class people or young people just entering society live in these places as renters, but the living conditions are often poor.

--- From the text

The process of demolishing a building and building a new one also wastes a lot of resources and emits greenhouse gases.
The main materials of the building are steel and cement.
However, the industrial sector that emits the most carbon dioxide is the steel and cement manufacturing process.
Producing iron requires high-temperature furnaces, which are usually fueled by coal.
Meanwhile, cement is made by baking limestone at high temperatures and grinding it into a fine powder, and a lot of coal is also used in this process.

--- From the text

If passive houses that use less energy are equipped with active features that produce their own energy, the amount of energy used and the amount of energy produced will be almost equal, making zero-energy buildings possible.

--- From the text

As we build more roads and secure parking to ease traffic congestion—in other words, as the transportation environment becomes more convenient—more people drive into the city, which makes traffic congestion worse.
Conversely, if the number of roads and parking spaces is intentionally reduced to make the traffic environment more inconvenient, people will use public transportation instead of their cars, which will actually reduce traffic congestion.
What the 15-minute city and Freiburg have in common is that they intentionally made car travel inconvenient.

--- From the text

These days, the number of old factories and empty buildings is gradually increasing in major cities including Seoul.
Even in the 1970s and 1980s, there were industrial complexes in the city, but starting in the 1990s, they were gradually pushed out to the outskirts.
Instead of leaving these empty factories and buildings vacant, they can be used as spaces for rooftop farming or vertical farming.

--- From the text

Forty years ago, in 1985, the world was shocked when news broke that a hole had opened in the ozone layer over Antarctica.
However, the cause was soon identified and there is a precedent for the world working together to stop using freon gas.
The Earth's ozone layer is now recovering to its original thickness.
The same goes for greenhouse gases.
If everyone living on Earth joined forces to reduce their use of oil and coal, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would decrease, lowering global temperatures.

--- From the text