Decarbonizing the Built Environment Through Heritage Atlas

Welcome to the Decarbonizing the Built Environment Through Heritage Atlas—a sortable repository of examples of heritage-informed decarbonization from around the world. These examples include tools, guidelines, materials, buildings, places, policies, and programs showcasing heritage-informed decarbonization across diverse contexts.

Heritage-informed decarbonization applies the wisdom, practices, and places of the past to minimize greenhouse gas emissions from the built environment in the present and future.

It reduces greenhouse gases while safeguarding and generating cultural value—the shared practices and identities that connect people to each other and their past. It includes materials, buildings, and places (tangible heritage) and traditions, knowledge, and practices passed from generation to generation (intangible heritage).

Atlas entries are coded by sorting criteria described below. For a complete definition of heritage-informed decarbonization and framework for policies, reference the Decarbonizing the Built Environment Through Heritage Toolkit.

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Explore the atlas below, or search for relevant examples. Sort by:

    • Africa and the Arab States

    • Asia

    • Australia/New Zealand

    • Europe

    • Latin America and the Caribbean

    • North America

    • Material: a construction material or system

    • Building: a constructed structure, landscape, or place

    • Practice: a tradition, custom, or approach to the built environment

    • Program/initiative: an project supporting built environment activities

    • Solutions toolkit: a published resource or guide

    • Policy: a government regulation or other policy instrument

    • Occupant behaviors that minimize the need for active heating, cooling, and lighting

    • Cultural practices and relationships between built places and their inhabitants that foster practices of care and climate-responsive behaviors 

    • Building care and maintenance that extends the life of buildings we have inherited

    • Responsible retrofit and adaptation

    • Adaptive (re)use that gives buildings new value

    • Comfort of people over prescribed space conditioning metrics for heating, cooling, and ventilation systems

    • Passive design features such as courtyards, overhangs, exterior operable shades, and mass walls

    • Climate-responsive urban planning and design that promotes health and thermal comfort in the wider built environment 

    • Use of low-carbon materials found in local/traditional construction (e.g., mud/earth and timber)

    • Salvage and deconstruction, sometimes referred to as part of materials circularity and circular economy

    • Inclusive governance and decision-making structures that include heritage and Indigenous voices

    • Mechanisms for maintaining and recovering knowledge, practices, and relationships that support the above strategies

Name Region Example Type Approach to Heritage-Informed Decarbonization
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