The focus of this section is on the impact of the built environment on climate, and creative ways to rethink how, what, and where we build. The emphasis is on tapping sustainable materials instead of extraction of new materials.

Johnson reports that some 75 percent of the world’s infrastructure that will be in place in 2050 has yet to be built. So we have many opportunities to change how we go about this, including how we deploy Artificial Intelligence.

“Neighborhoods and Landscapes,” Interviewees Bryan Lee (design for justice pioneer) and Kate Orff (landscape architect).

“Design justice is what love looks like in public spaces.” (Lee, p. 95)
“Social lives and our connectedness to each other are going to do as much to protect us from whatever risks we face as any physical project.” (Lee, p 96)
Q: What might he mean by that?

Both people emphasize the importance of involving those in the community who may be affected by what will be built going forward.
Q: What are the benefits and obstacles to that approach?

“Design for a Changing World” Interviewee Paola Antonelli (curator for architecture & design).

Discussions in this interview range from recycling infrastructure, to rewilding, to AI, the role of museums, and the climate action value of a good list. Antonelli believes that design is a powerful agent for change and a tool for progress in all fields.

“An act of design can be the spark that can help change behaviors to cope with the environmental crisis. Design . . . does not only solve problems or give form to functions, it changes behaviors. (p 105)
Examples:
– Building with materials found within a 5-mile radius of the building site
– Office furniture made of electronic waste
– Young people jumping on the bandwagon of mending, repairing, recycling, upcycling, and choosing pre-worn clothing

“To tackle our environmental predicament, a revision[ing] of goals is key. . . Goals are the most important object that we have to design. And then everything else will flow, and we will all be co-creating and collaborating toward those goals.” (p. 113)
Q: What, concretely, does she mean by this? What would be examples of such goals?

“The call to action is really to be better humans, by understanding that we live for others . . . And when I say, ‘others,’ I mean also the rest of the environment, all creatures and things. Love is the answer.” (p. 116)

“The AI Deluge.” Interviewee: Mustafa Suleyman (tech executive and AI pioneer).

Johnson sets the stage by asking, “What would it look like to, as a society, weigh the costs and benefits of how we proceed with AI, as opposed to having tech executives decide for us . . . and put it to work on climate solutions?” (p 120)

“Climate is a collective action problem. If requires consensus, it requires compromise and major concessions.” (Suleyman, p. 121)
Q: What climate change goals might you be willing to compromise in order to achieve consensus?

Suleyman offers these basic explanations of AI:
AI means automating how we efficiently use what we have (or know) to produce new constructs (materials, organizations, goods, services, ideas).
– AI, Phase I: Classifying the perceptional environment
– Phase II, Generative AI: Taking what you have classified, and predicting or generating something new.
– Phase III, Interactive AI: Giving guidance to produce what you want, as a human. In terms of predicting climate futures, AI cannot be exact but can produce a wide range of possibilities.

Modern examples:
– Making cooling systems more efficient based upon various inputs
– Building stable power grids that can absorb and distribute the capacity created by renewable energy sources (“grid management”)

“We’re building something clever (AI) because we reached . . . or we are approaching the limits of what we are able to do as a species.” (p 129).
Q: Do you agree or disagree?