Just transitions: Architecture, construction, and climate justice

This paper explores activist organisations in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industries that advocate for climate justice in the name of Just Transition. Just Transition, a segment of the climate justice movement, emphasises the need for those workers who will be most affected by a transition to a green economy - construction workers - to participate in the formation of the policies that will affect them. The paper makes the point that architects must recognise their role in the construction industry and hence participate in Just Transition advocacy. It explores the different organisations, in both the construction and architecture industries, that promote a Just Transition, examining the varied methods, targets, and scales of advocacy. It points out distinctions in these groups according to how far the group goes in linking Just Transition advocacy to a critique of capitalism’s call for continued growth and development. It discusses the advantages and disadvantages of targeting local policymakers versus more global and systemic power brokers as well as the varied effectiveness of groups that identify as agitators, non-profit organisers, or NGOs. At the end, the author reconsiders some of the assumptions that were used in creating the ‘effectiveness’ hierarchy imposed on the listing of organisations that the paper describes and speculates on the various ways a person can be called to action in the name of Just Transition.