Passive Survivability as a Method of Adaptation

Aditi Agarwal (M. Des Energy and Environment ’20)

Golconde (1942), a dormitory in Pondicherry, India, was one of the first modern buildings to address the pragmatic impositions of a tropical context while proposing environmental sensitivity as a foundation for the design process.

All images captured by the author

The built environment is both a major contributor to climate change and has the potential to mitigate its impacts, during incremental change as well as extreme events. It is therefore uniquely positioned to have a far-reaching impact in the way we interact with changing conditions. Our ability to adapt to these conditions, sometimes referred to as passive survivability, means maintaining critical life-support conditions for occupants if services such as power, heating fuel, or water are lost for an extended period[1]. As the world’s population continues to grow[2], urban areas are at greater risk for fatal heat exposure, owing largely to the inability of our buildings to maintain safe thermal conditions without mechanical cooling[3].

In recent years, an interest in passive survivability has been spurred by a growing focus on resilient design. It emphasizes passive strategies paired with a rigorous effort to ensure human comfort and low energy use. It also ties together a community’s ability to be prepared for adverse situations such as power outages or deliberate attacks on the conventional supply of fuel. As such, community resilience is given priority over ecological resilience, accepting that as the likelihood of adverse conditions increases, we must be prepared to overcome the resulting impacts. 

Conceptually, this proposal suggests preparation for one-off situations or extreme events but does not account for the systematic impact on long-term functioning. In preparing only for the extremes we run the risk of overlooking seemingly insignificant stresses, and the consequent increase in energy consumption, social stress or ecological damage that it may cause.

With emerging patterns of more extreme weather across the globe, adaptation is essential for urban communities[4] and should be guided by an overall assessment of each community. The nonlinear, complex, and dynamic nature of climate change poses significant challenges in developing appropriate response methods and assessment frameworks for adaptability and survivability. In a given context, survivability can increase when appropriately supported by critical systems like shelter, energy, transportation and communications systems. Increasing the inherent capacity of complex systems to manage a range of events, through experience or strategic preparation, better enables such systems to deal with unanticipated climate-driven shocks and stresses[5]. 

At a smaller scale, a building’s behavior at the time of extreme events can be greatly influenced by how well it can adapt to the cumulative effects of slow-onset stress. Cumulatively, building-level interventions can impact a community’s preparedness and address growing concerns about public health and economic impacts of extreme heat. By focusing on survivability, we not only ensure least dependency on larger supply systems but also create the need to innovate and constantly evolve. 

Bibliography:

1. “Passive Survivability,” BuildingGreen, December 1, 2005, https://www.buildinggreen.com/op-ed/passive-survivability.

2.“World Population Prospects - Population Division - United Nations,” accessed November 2, 2019, https://population.un.org/wpp/.

3. Amir Baniassadi et al., “Passive Survivability of Buildings under Changing Urban Climates across Eight US Cities,” Environmental Research Letters 14, no. 7 (July 2019): 074028, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab28ba.

4. Immediate Office US EPA National Center for Environmental Assessment, “Evaluating Urban Resilience to Climate Change: A Multi-Sector Approach (Final Report),” Reports & Assessments, accessed May 7, 2019, https://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/global/recordisplay.cfm?deid=322482.

5. Emma Tompkins and W. Neil Adger, “Does Adaptive Management of Natural Resources Enhance Resilience to Climate Change?,” Ecology and Society 9, no. 2 (October 15, 2004), https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-00667-090210; Brian Walker et al., “Resilience Management in Social-Ecological Systems: A Working Hypothesis for a Participatory Approach,” Conservation Ecology 6, no. 1 (June 19, 2002), https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-00356-060114.