Climate change festival turns debate on its head

Birmingham's climate change festival makes the direct link between climate change and the design of buildings and spaces by unveiling a 95-foot high pylon outside the Council House in Victoria Square.

A nine day climate change festival is under way in Birmingham, inviting people to dare to dream about life in a low-carbon city.

The festival, co-organised by CABE and Birmingham City Council and running until 8 June, is seeking to turn the climate change debate on its head - Break the mould, as the campaign says. Instead of the threats and warnings of an apocalypse, it concentrates on the opportunities from creating sustainable towns and cities. They will be more beautiful, healthier, fairer, more sociable and more prosperous places to live and work.

The festival is making the direct link between climate change and the design of buildings and spaces. The global environmental crisis is largely a result of the way our cities have been designed: half of all carbon emissions come from the places we have built.

A 95-foot high pylon has been unveiled outside the Council House in Victoria Square - the powerbase of Europe's largest local authority. Pylons allow our cities to use energy without seeing the stark chimneys and cooling towers of the power station. The festival has been designed to make the invisible visible, and that idea lies at the heart of our problem with energy: we are rarely conscious of how much we use.

It is a familiar object out of context, lifted straight from its usual home - complete with mini cornfield - into a city square. Climate change isn't just happening far from home and in the future - it is happening here and now.

But this is no ordinary pylon. It has been transformed by the design team, Block Architecture, Packman Lucas and XCO2 Energy. Nickel-plated, it reflects the light - sparkling in the sunshine, at night shining from green to gold. It transmits the optimism that is at the heart of the festival.

Street theatre, technical debates, exhibitions and a special programme of walks and tours with great designers, all show how the city's buildings and spaces are changing to fit into a low-carbon future. A series of colourful 'picture frame' benches throughout the city centre during the festival invite the passer-by to take a second look at the city.

And on 5 June Birmingham City Council announces ambitious targets to cut carbon emission by 60 per cent in 18 years - twice as fast as the government's national reduction target.