Currently, the world is in the middle of a decisive turning point, and so is Europe and the EU (Assmann, 2018; Fischer, 2019). The time is ripe for a reflection and revision of dysfunctional institutional structures on the European level, not least for the sake of the survival of our planet Earth. It seems the climate crisis is merely acknowledged, but only ineffectually addressed, because the capitalist system as a whole would have to be rethought in order to combat the problem with real effectiveness — and this touches upon issues of redistribution of power structures not only in the EU but in the entire world (Mason, 2015; Lessenich, 2016). SARS-CoV-2 can also be understood as a sub-crisis of the climate crisis, i.e. symptomatic of a weakened ecosystem (Bernstein, 2019; UNEP, 2020). It is a great challenge to make the post-pandemic reconstruction process socially just and ecologically sustainable, and it is only conceivable in connection with climate protection and justice (Martin, 2020). Rapid social change is of the utmost climatic urgency. [And architecture can contribute.]

Excerpt: Meireis, S. (2021) European Architectures in the Age of Climate Change. In (forthcoming): Ardeth #7: Europe. Architecture, Infrastructure, Territory. Politecnico di Torino