Green Leadership Challenges in the Built Environment

Overview

The built environment as an industry has been monumentally slow in responding to the global climate crisis. This talk presents a holistic overview of the many sustainability challenges (not just energy or carbon) facing the built environment. The urgency and scale of the problem is more than what we are currently responding to. And the presentation will provide a reflection on some of the systemic challenges of built environment collaboration and practice. The fact that we do not work effectively with the other disciplines, and often aren’t even speaking the same language about the same things means that even well-intentioned individuals are not collectively delivering the projects that the planet needs. Based on her work as the course director of the Sustainability Leadership for the Built Environment (IDBE) programmes at the university of Cambridge, Dr Friedman will explore the personal skillsets for working built environment professionals that will be needed to address these many challenges (ie, what can you do?) – focusing on both competence (technical skills) and confidence (leadership and collaboration).