Designing resilient housing for co-evolutionary adaptivity

Buildings and communities need to be more resilient in the face of increasing weather extremes due to climate change. Current building models lack adequate definition to address this new challenge. This paper defines resilient design in terms of four ecosystemic factors: robustness, redundancy, feedback and co-evolutionary adaptivity. It builds upon previous work on usability and extends this to include resilient performance in relation to three new UK case studies covering retrofit and new build housing. In each case usability studies are evaluated in terms of resilient design. Key areas of concern identified in the studies relate to the vulnerability of centralised ventilation systems and the lack of interactive adaptability in relation to the construction systems adopted. Lessons learnt and recommendations are highlighted for design guidance and policy consideration, including a greater focus on delivering low carbon homes that are able to be more resilient over time through co-evolutionary adaptivity.