Creating developments that encourage inhabitants to reduce their consumption is the next frontier for low-carbon design, according to Hélène Chartier of sustainable urbanism network C40 Cities.
Chartier said that "a change of mindset" is required to ensure that architects look beyond the carbon footprint of their buildings and also consider emissions generated by the lifestyles of building users.
"As a designer, they don't just build a box," Chartier said during a Dezeen talk about carbon held at Dutch Design Week last week. "They build a place where people live. The design can really empower people to live a more sustainable life and make lower-carbon choices in their daily lives".
Consumption-based emissions "a catastrophe" Consumption-based emissions are those produced by the consumption of goods and services by building users and include emissions from transport, food, clothing and other goods.
These are "a catastrophe," said Chartier, who is head of zero-carbon development at C40 Cities, a network that helps the world's biggest cities with their decarbonisation goals.
"If we take the city of Copenhagen, which is one of the most ambitious cities in terms of carbon-neutrality objectives and everything, and add the consumption-based emissions today, they are just getting worse and worse," she said.
Consumption-based emissions come on top of the lifecycle emissions of a building itself.

Hélène Chartier made t...