Sustains Us, South Bank and Waterloo’s sustainability and climate resilience programme, joined forces with Bloomberg and the BFI to host 80 creative industries representatives at a climate resilience and adaptation workshop in South Bank.
The London Climate Week workshop took place at the BFI Southbank during one of several amber heat alerts this summer. The event also coincided with the launch of the BFI’s “Cool off in Culture” campaign promoting venues across London where visitors can find ‘cool spaces’ to spend time – such as cinemas and galleries - during summer heatwaves.
The Climate Resilience for London’s Cultural Venues Workshop brought together participants from almost 60 different London cultural organisations, including theatres, cinemas, museums, and grassroots arts spaces, to share how they are responding to the adaptive changes needed to remain resilient in a changing climate.
The event delved into how cultural venues in South Bank, Waterloo and beyond can adapt their operations to meet the challenges posed by a changing climate, as well as looking at how cultural venues can play a role in supporting the public by, for example, providing air-conditioned spaces to residents and visitors during heatwaves.
Climate Risk Mapping for Cultural Venues
The workshop also explored new climate risk maps recently developed by Bloomberg Associates.
These new climate risk maps overlay London’s 1,100+ cultural venues with flood and heat risk data, revealing that over two thirds of arts and cultural venues in London are at a higher-than-average climate risk. This means they are more likely to be affected by the extreme weather that we are experiencing more frequently due to climate change.
Lauren Racusin who works on Sustainability at Bloomberg Associates, said: “Knowing your organisational risks is the best way to start to plan for climate adaptation. These maps show that cultural venues across London especially face heat and flood risks, but by taking a cross-sector approach we hope venues will realise their challenges are shared and can start to tackle them together.”
Produced by Bloomberg Associates in collaboration with BFI and South Bank and Waterloo Sustains Us, you can explore these maps on the Julie’s Bicycle website.
South Bank & Waterloo Sustains Us is the joint commitment from partners across the area, including South Bank BID, to create a fairer and greener neighbourhood by 2030.
You can find out more about the Sustains Us programme and get in touch with the team here.
