Climacteric (noun): a critical period or event.

Climacteric (adjective): having extreme and far-reaching implications or results; critical.

If the climate is at a crisis — an acute, key, crucial, decisive, and significant moment — what role can design truly play in dealing with the climate climacteric? This talk investigates how notions of resilience, adaptation, and mitigation have shaped contemporary discourse around climate-responsive design and urbanism. The lecture is structured around three main themes: terrains, assemblies, and codes.

Fadi Masoud is an assistant professor of landscape architecture and urbanism at the Daniels Faculty, and the director of the Platform for Resilient Urbanism at the Centre for Landscape Research. His teaching and research focus on the links between design, environmental systems, and planning policy instruments. He currently sits on the Waterfront Toronto Design Review Panel and Resilient Toronto’s Urban Flooding Working Group.