Reflecting on: Reimagining Retrofit

Creative Carbon Scotland

7 October 2023: At our first Green Tease exploring architecture and retrofit, we spent the afternoon discussing just transition and the role of art in future possibilities for housing.

This Green Tease was made possible by collaborating with Scott McAulay, who is a Glaswegian climate and spatial justice activist, Part 2 architectural assistant and sustainability specialist, whose work with the Anthropocene Architecture School creates spaces for people to learn about climate solutions and opportunities for a just transition in our built environments.

The team at Civic House in Glasgow provided their spacious venue for us to hold workshops and discussions, exhibitions and a film screening for Reimagining Retrofit.

The afternoon began with culture/SHIFT officer, Maja Rimer, introducing Creative Carbon Scotland’s work and highlighting that the climate crisis is a cultural issue. Andrew Williams, Project Manager at the sustainability charity Sniffer, spoke about Creative Climate Futures, a project building climate resilience in Glasgow communities. Scott McAulay then introduced the work of the Anthropocene Architecture School, covering the importance and urgency of buildings in the climate crisis. Emphasising that the tools to build sustainable homes and to retrofit existing ones to standards fit for a climate emergency already exist, and such buildings becoming the norm would change and save lives. Scott ended his talk with a radical imagination exercise, asking everyone to close their eyes and imagine what future housing might look like if it allowed humans and non-humans to thrive.

Our aim for this event was to invite attendees to begin imagining retrofit as an action beyond the scale of the individual home, to create space to have thought-provoking discussions and to generate ideas of future possibilities amongst themselves. Scott led a workshop designed to explore retrofitting at different scales – the home, the street andthe neighbourhood, encouraging attendees to sit with people they might not know to foster new connections. Facilitators from environmental, sustainability and architecture backgrounds – ACAN Scotland, the Architecture Fringe and Imagine If CIC – supported the flow of discussions.

Some of the themes that emerged from the day’s discussions were:

  • community
  • scale
  • long-term security
  • job creation
  • governance
  • ownership
  • shared responsibility
  • collaboration
  • the role of culture
  • the power of imagination

‘The scale of just transition opportunities that could be unlocked by resourcing communities to co-design and govern the retrofit of their homes, streets, and neighbourhoods is dreamlike. Barriers standing between where we are today, and a Scotland where such programmes are underway – changing and saving lives, are not technical ones: they are cultural and political and must be collectively, and imaginatively, tackled as such.’
Scott McAulay, Anthropocene Architecture School

The Wyndford Exhibition group introduced ‘Rethinking the architect: The fight to save the Wyndford’ co-created with local residents. They spoke about the frustrations of the wasteful construction industry and that demolition is never the solution. Imagine If CIC introduced their exhibit and game, designed to revolutionise the housing design process. Their aim is to challenge the decision-making process in residential design projects to allow individuals to have a say in how housing is created.

Attendees had the opportunity to explore the housing exhibitions and to watch Dampbusters by Winnie Herbstein, a documentary that explores the past, present and future of community organising in Glasgow. The film centres around the work of Cathy McCormack, a housing and anti-poverty activist from Easthall in Easterhouse.

Artist Martha Orbach led a creative re-visioning workshop on the role of culture and creativity in imagining a radically different housing future. Through experimental making with willow, drawing and diagrams the attendees explored how art can provide a space to rethink how we make a home amidst the climate crisis. There was great enthusiasm for using willow as a material, and an atmosphere of creativity filled the room. People shared their creations and commented on the meditative process that sparked their imagination.

We ended the day with Scott facilitating a second radical imagination exercise and giving out Reimagining Economic Possibilities postcards from Civic Square so that everyone had something inspiring to take away.

‘Through discussions, exhibitions and crafts we discovered how culture and art can help us imagine how our homes and neighbourhoods could be transformed. Through the event, we created a space and a time to reflect, which can be hard in a society that urges us to keep going. It also allowed participants to meet people who think differently across the arts, climate and architecture sectors, which is so important if we wish to rethink how we build today.’ Maja Rimer, Creative Carbon Scotland culture/SHIFT officer

If you were not able to attend the event, we encourage you to think about the following questions:

Physical changes retrofitting entails and relationships to the home. What has your experience of housing been over the last few years? How would your home being retrofitted to meet your needs change your life?

Cultural and social changes unlocked by retrofitting streets. What if the climate transition and retrofit of streets was designed, owned and governed by the people who live there? What more becomes possible when retrofitting as a street of neighbours?

Physical, cultural and social change necessary to retrofit neighbourhoods. What possibilities can be unlocked by retrofitting entire neighbourhoods? What kind of infrastructure is required to make this a reality? What might the role of arts and culture be in communicating the scale of what is possible?

Further resources and opportunities:

About Green Tease

This event took place as part of the Green Tease events series and network, a project organised by Creative Carbon Scotland, bringing together people from arts and environmental backgrounds to discuss, share expertise, and collaborate. Green Tease forms part of our culture/SHIFT programme. 

(Top image ID: People sitting and standing in a room in Civic House, having conversations. The tables have paper and willow structures on them. Behind them is an exhibition ‘The fight to save the Wyndford’.)

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