Natasha Balwit

I am a writer, planner, and researcher with a focus on climate change mitigation and decarbonization at the scale of cities and landscapes. My current research at the Future Infrastructure and Built Environment CDT at the University of Cambridge is centered on planning for geothermal and the material and life cycle impacts of ground-source heat pumps and thermo-active geostructures. Most recently, I worked on comprehensive plans and community planning for public clients at the Albuquerque-base planning and landscape architecture firm Sites Southwest. Before that, I led research and communications on building sector policy, energy, and emissions trends at Architecture 2030. I performed city building stock assessments for Architecture 2030’s Zero Cities Initiative, led Architecture 2030’s work on equity in building decarbonization initiatives, and supported municipal governments in creating equitable and impactful building sector decarbonization policies. My writing has been published online in CityLab, The Atlantic, CoLab Radio, ARCHITECT, and elsewhere. I am a regular contributor to the newsletter Scope of Work (formerly The Prepared) and write about buildings, materials, land use, and climate change in my own occasional newsletter called Buildingshed.