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Keeping a Cool Head
Climate change is an unstoppable reality and the measures that have been taken so far are clearly inadequate: that much is now brought home to us on a daily basis. The overheating of urban areas already has life-threatening consequences today and is set to reach temperatures far in excess of the climate goals defined by political decisionmakers. How will humans and animals, plants and infrastructures stand up to these rapidly progressing developments? Absent more effective countermeasures, some cities in Europe will be uninhabitable within a few decades. Despite this obvious threat, climate-adapted urban planning is still not being given the priority it deserves.
The German contribution for the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 exposes visitors physically and psychologically to the reality of the future urban climate: a STRESSTEST that makes the need to act directly tangible. At the same time, the exhibition and catalogue offer impulses and solutions for resilient planning that make our cities fit for the future to create a healthy living space for all living organisms. The German contribution is therefore an urgent appeal to act in order to overcome this STRESSTEST together.
The catalogue for the German Pavilion expands the exhibition with essays by Luisa Amann, Maria Aubock, bauchplan ).(, Silvia C. Benedito, Carsten Dierkes, Almut Grüntuch-Ernst, Andreas Kipar, Klaus K. Loenhart, Bernhard Maaz, Andreas Matzarakis, Burkert Pieske, and Boris Schroder-Esselbach.
Summary
Keeping a Cool Head
Climate change is an unstoppable reality and the measures that have been taken so far are clearly inadequate: that much is now brought home to us on a daily basis. The overheating of urban areas already has life-threatening consequences today and is set to reach temperatures far in excess of the climate goals defined by political decisionmakers. How will humans and animals, plants and infrastructures stand up to these rapidly progressing developments? Absent more effective countermeasures, some cities in Europe will be uninhabitable within a few decades. Despite this obvious threat, climate-adapted urban planning is still not being given the priority it deserves.
The German contribution for the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 exposes visitors physically and psychologically to the reality of the future urban climate: a STRESSTEST that makes the need to act directly tangible. At the same time, the exhibition and catalogue offer impulses and solutions for resilient planning that make our cities fit for the future to create a healthy living space for all living organisms. The German contribution is therefore an urgent appeal to act in order to overcome this STRESSTEST together.
The catalogue for the German Pavilion expands the exhibition with essays by Luisa Amann, Maria Auböck, bauchplan ).(, Silvia C. Benedito, Carsten Dierkes, Almut Grüntuch-Ernst, Andreas Kipar, Klaus K. Loenhart, Bernhard Maaz, Andreas Matzarakis, Burkert Pieske, and Boris Schröder-Esselbach.
