For the fourth year, the ASLA New York Chapter has organized an event for Climate Week NYC, one of the world’s largest climate gatherings.

The free, immersive workshop — Combating Coastal Flooding Through Green & Hybrid Infrastructure — is co-organized by the University of Miami Center for Urban and Community Design, ASLA New York, landscape architecture firm Hargreaves Jones, Waterfront Alliance, and engineering firm Moffatt & Nichol.

The workshop will be held on Wednesday, September 24 from 4-6 PM at 30 Broad Street, New York City. It will be followed by a happy hour presented by Kind Designs.

The co-organizers state that two major coastal cities — New York City and Miami — are on “the front lines of climate change, facing rising sea levels, stronger hurricanes, extreme heat, and increased flooding.” For both cities, “addressing coastal flooding is essential to long-term resilience.”

While nature-based infrastructure offers a powerful solution, its adoption remains limited. The goal of the workshop is to convene “key stakeholders to identify barriers to implementing green infrastructure and explore strategies to accelerate its expansion within today’s regulatory and economic landscape.”

“Climate Week NYC is an opportunity to unite leaders and tackle some of the most pressing climate challenges we face,” said landscape architect Annie Phaosawasdi, ASLA, PLA, Chapter President, ASLA New York Chapter, and associate principal, Hargreaves Jones.

“As designers of outdoor spaces, landscape architects play a crucial role in cities’ resilience — managing stormwater, mitigating urban heat, and restoring ecosystems. This workshop provides a platform for experts in nature-based solutions to highlight these solutions’ strengths, discuss the obstacles, and brainstorm solutions.”

“Landscape architects bring unique technical expertise for tackling challenges of flooding caused by climate change,” said Thomas Klein, director, Center for Urban and Community Design, University of Miami.

Through the workshop, “we will share this knowledge with a diverse coalition of experts from city agencies, NGOs, climate finance, and other design practitioners, with the goal of fostering unique collaborations and charting a path towards broader adoption of green and hybrid infrastructure in our communities.”

Register today

The organization credits a set of ambitious energy and transportation strategies for the reduction

ASLA released the second annual assessment of the greenhouse gas emissions generated by its business operations. The organization achieved its goal of a 20 percent reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions by 2024 and continued to make progress towards its goal of zero emissions by 2040.

The assessment details the amounts and sources of greenhouse gas emissions generated in 2024 by ASLA operations. This total includes electricity use, magazine printing and shipping, business travel, employee commuting, waste produced, and more. These emissions add up to 257 metric tonnes.

To put that in perspective, the average U.S. home produces approximately one metric tonne of emissions monthly via its electricity use in regions where coal or gas generates power.

“We accomplished our ambitious goal by looking into every part of our business operations. A lower carbon footprint makes good climate and business sense. We are committed to continue our efforts to reduce our emissions,” said ASLA CEO Torey Carter-Conneen, Hon. ASLA.

Top sources of emissions reductions from 2023 to 2024 included:

• Purchasing 100 percent renewable energy for the ASLA Center on Landscape Architecture
• Reducing employee commuting miles by 47 percent, with miles by personal vehicle declining 69 percent
• Reducing number of business travel miles by 60 percent
• Reducing the number of complimentary industry partner subscription copies of Landscape Architecture Magazine (LAM) by 60 percent.

2024 Operations Emissions

The 2024 assessment was developed in partnership with Honeycomb Strategies, a sustainability consulting company. The company and ASLA team cooperated to collect extensive and complete data on:

• monthly business travel and commuting,
• energy used and waste generated from the ASLA Center for Landscape Architecture, the organization’s LEED Platinum- and Well Gold-certified headquarters, and
• printing, shipping, and online use for Landscape Architecture Magazine (LAM)

Of the total 257 metric tonnes, the ASLA headquarters emitted 74 tonnes, or 29 percent, and LAM emitted 183 tonnes, or 71 percent.

LAM reduced emissions from printing, distributing, and digital reading by implementing a set of strategies, including reducing complimentary print copies by 60 percent. Emissions from LAM printing decreased by 8 percent and distribution by 7 percent.

The calculations for the Center’s emissions included such factors as electricity use, employee commuting, and business travel.

In 2024, the Center used 112,827 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity or 8.9 kWh per square foot – substantially below the 16.9 kWh average annual electricity consumption per square foot for administrative office space, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). ASLA updated its renewable energy purchasing agreement, yielding a 34 percent decrease in energy use and a 19 percent reduction in emissions from 2023.

• ASLA employees commuted to the office 2,761 times, covering 57,000 miles
  • 40 percent of trips by car, a decrease from 69 percent in 2023
  • 52 percent by public transit (train, subway, bus), an increase from 27 percent in 2023
  • 6 percent by foot or bike, an increase from 4 percent in 2023
• ASLA employees traveled 90,352 miles on business trips, a 60 percent reduction over 2023.
  • 92 percent of trips by plane, down from 95 percent in 2023
• ASLA produced an estimated 7,280 pounds of waste
  • 71 percent of waste went to the landfill and 29 percent was recycled

2025 Reduction Actions

As the 2024 data was collected, ASLA implemented new strategies to reduce emissions in 2025 and beyond. To reduce its emissions this year, ASLA has implemented a set of strategies:

• Continued to promote benefits and incentives for low-carbon commuting
• Continued to encourage train travel for shorter business trips
• Further analyzed its waste
• Reduced catering of ASLA hosted events
• Continued to refine Landscape Architecture Magazine complimentary copy distribution list

To empower other organizations and companies to make these changes, ASLA published Towards Zero Emission Business Operations. The guide is designed to help landscape architecture firms of all sizes navigate the transition to zero-emission offices more easily. It outlines more than 110 actions landscape architecture firms can implement to reduce their business and project greenhouse gas emissions by 50 to 65 percent by 2030 and achieve zero emissions by 2040.

Why Concrete Might Be Doing More Harm Than Good in the Fight Against Flood Risks, CNN, August
“It’s time to ask the question: what other way can we adapt to climate change?” In a 3-minute video, landscape architect Kongjian Yu, FASLA, founder of Turenscape, calls for replacing failing grey infrastructure with a “sponge city” approach that better leverages the many benefits of water. He calls for a more harmonious relationship with nature through “land-based, water-driven solutions.”

California Approves an Unprecedented Plan to Protect Joshua Trees from Climate Change Threats, Los Angeles Times, August 16
The new plan brings together science and indigenous knowledge to look ahead at anticipated climate impacts on the state’s iconic Joshua trees. Permits and fees will now be required for development near them. Critics argue the plan raises regulatory costs and creates obstacles for new housing and infrastructure projects.

How to Accelerate Carbon Neutrality Without Federal Support? Invest in Carbonsheds, Common Edge, August 13
City leaders can start “managing their carbonsheds with the same attention and rigor as their watersheds,” argues landscape architect Chris Hardy, ASLA, PLA, senior associate at Sasaki and founder of Carbon Conscience. Carbonsheds is a relatively new term that describes the “localized concentrations, emissions, and storage of carbon in the atmosphere and in the living environment.” Hardy wants to broaden the definition to include the “carbon metabolism of a city, from emissions for energy and materials to the emissions associated with our waste cycles.”

Global Maps Reveal Where Mycorrhizal Fungi Thrive — and Where They’re Unprotected, Mongabay, August 4
Plants pass 13 billion metric tons of carbon to underground networks of mycorrhizal fungi each year. That’s equal to one-third of all global fossil fuel emissions. But new maps, developed by a global network of scientists over four years, show that less than 10 percent of fungi biodiversity hotspots are protected. “Vast underground ecosystems [are] vulnerable to destruction from agriculture and development.”

World Cannot Recycle Its Way Out of Plastics Crisis, Report Warns, Yale Environment 360, August 4
Scientists estimate there is now 8 billion tons of plastic waste in the Earth’s ecosystems, and chemicals from this waste have created significant health impacts. Just three chemicals —PBDE, BPA, and DEHP — create $1.5 trillion in health damages each year. Still, less than 10 percent of global plastic is recycled annually, so reducing plastic production is key.

One of the top ten most dangerous intersections in Washington, D.C. has been transformed into a safe gateway and green public space.

Thomas Balsley, FASLA, co-managing principal of SWA/Balsley, said the $41 million Mamie “Peanut” Johnson Plaza shows how transportation infrastructure can support “social sustainability” by providing community space and building a sense of neighborhood pride.

The 37,000-square-foot project is also a model for what city departments of transportation can achieve when they collaborate with landscape architects and community groups. “Through this partnership, we were able to take this to a whole other level, beyond the standard traffic triangle,” Balsley said.

The plaza, which is where Florida Avenue, New York Avenue, and First Street Northeast converge, was once home to a Wendy’s and colloquially known as Dave Thomas Circle, after the founder of the fast food chain. Through eminent domain, the D.C. government took ownership of the space so they could address the unsafe conditions. From 2015 to 2020, the intersection resulted in 224 crashes, with seven involving pedestrians and five with cyclists.

Balsley said this traffic node has a rich history. It was part of Pierre L’Enfant’s original plan for the district. “It was the outer edge of the city, the northeast gateway.”

As the district department of transportation started reimagining traffic flows, the NoMA Business Improvement District and its Parks Foundation saw an opportunity to create “meaningful little park places,” Balsley said. They engaged SWA/Balsley and local partner ParkerRodgriguez to undertake a community engagement process. That process resulted in a public vote to rename the plaza after Mamie “Peanut” Johnson, the first female pitcher in the Negro baseball leagues.

Traffic flow resulted in creation of three separate spaces bisected by two major avenues. Despite the challenging set-up, Balsley wanted to ensure “they read as one space.” To do that, he focused on the pedestrian experience.

Wider, safer sidewalks provide connections between the three parcels. Bike lanes and traffic calming measures help reduce speeds.

And Balsley added sloping berms, with high back seats, and grasses on the sides of the parks that face major avenues to create buffers, a “sense of psychological safety.” When the lush grasses grow in, “they will also help create the sense of a protected, enclosed, quieter space.”

The addition of 75 trees, pollinator-friendly plants, and new features like social areas, a play space, and picnic tables help draw pedestrians through the series of spaces. A public artwork is also planned for the middle parcel.

SWA states that in the first five months of 2025, crash numbers have “decreased by 40 percent from pre-construction conditions.” Before, cyclists often needed to use the circle’s sidewalks. Now protected bike lanes through the intersection connect with a newly multimodal Florida Avenue.

The project supports the district’s Vision Zero goals and reflects its “belief that equitable, high-quality public space is essential civic infrastructure,” the city states. So far, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has built 55 miles of bike lanes, of which 35 miles are safer, protected lanes.

For Balsley, the climate and biodiversity benefits of the trees and pollinator-friendly landscape are important, but he asks us to “not forget the social and economic sides of sustainability.” He views the plaza as a way to build community among the 13,000 people who live nearby and have little access to green space. The plaza brings together a diverse mix of people from surrounding residences, government buildings, and high schools, supporting local business.

Canada has a national climate adaptation strategy, but it’s largely up to its provinces and cities to move this work forward. Within provincial and city government, landscape architects in leadership roles have developed inventive climate and biodiversity policies that the rest of the world can learn from. Their leadership offers lessons that transcend borders.

In an online discussion organized by the ASLA Climate & Biodiversity Action Committee and the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects, three Canadian landscape architects working in government outlined how they are moving beyond the national adaptation plan and preparing communities and ecosystems for a changing world.

Nunavut is in the far north of Canada. It covers more than two million square kilometers, one-fifth of Canada’s territory, and spans three time zones. Approximately 85 percent of the population of 37,000 is Inuit.

According to landscape architect Cameron DeLong, director of the climate change secretariat in Nunavut’s government, Canada’s national adaptation strategy is more focused on urban solutions in southern provinces than the challenges facing the far north. “So we had to chart a path on our own.”

“Here, climate risk isn’t an abstract concept but impacting our safety, culture, and survival.” In the north, temperatures are warming three times faster, causing rapid sea ice loss and thawing ground. These environmental changes impact infrastructure — roads, bridges, and trails. And in isolated rural communities, that creates real risks. “It can be unsafe to travel to school and healthcare.”

The loss of sea ice also impacts Inuit’s ability to harvest food sources and sustain their livelihoods and culture. “There are risks of cultural erosion, food insecurity, and the loss of our way of life,” DeLong said.

To identify and measure these impacts, Nunavut conducted a climate risk and resilience assessment, outlining climate projections, based in science and Inuit knowledge. They also developed an equitable, Inuit-led resilience strategy: Upagiaqtavut – Setting the Course: Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation in Nunavut. The assessment and strategy are “providing a foundation for government agencies to embed climate change into their work.”

Through the process, DeLong found that “resilience is not just about managing risk but also protecting cultural identity. Resilience must be values-based. Equity can’t be an after thought. We must listen deeply to communities.”

The discussion then shifted to the west coast of Canada, the city of Vancouver in British Columbia. It’s a coastal city with a population of more than 700,000, “on the edge of a vast wilderness,” explained Cameron Owen, senior urban designer and landscape architect with the City of Vancouver.

With climate change, the city is facing increased rainfall, flooding, and sea level rise — a challenge of too much water. In 2018, the city developed the Rain City Strategy with the “goal of managing stormwater sustainably through green infrastructure,” Owen said.

The strategy leverages the Sponge City concept to “make room for water and nature” throughout the city’s districts. The strategy, which will take 30 years to fully implement, looks at “all forms of water” in the urban watershed, “responds to risks, and encourages collaboration and innovation.”

To create more local solutions, Vancouver set up planning units that look at water and also heat, connectivity, and equity. In these units, landscape architects and engineers work together to prioritize investments in green infrastructure and sewer and drainage systems, considering all water infrastructure in an integrated way.

On the ground, the city’s landscape architects are creating green infrastructure systems and rain gardens that are “designed to keep water as close to where it falls,” Owen said. These blue-green systems are then being connected with networks of rainways, which are constructed wetlands.

The St. George community rainway reopened a stream that was once channeled into a pipe, providing a new space for rainwater to flow. This rainway was planted with Indigenous plants for pollinators and the community supported its construction and on-going maintenance. All these new green features are improving livability. “They are important to communities.” And the investments are also supporting the goals of the city’s 2050 plan and VanPlay, its parks master plan.

Turning to the east coast of Canada: Toronto has a population of over 3 million, making it the fourth largest city in North America. Founded in 1793 on the north shore of Lake Ontario, it has grown rapidly over the past two centuries.

Climate change has increased temperatures and rainfall in the city, explained Jane Welsh, a landscape architect and project manager with the environmental planning unit of Toronto City Planning. Biodiversity loss also threatens more damage to the ecosystems in the city and surrounding areas.

To address these challenges, Toronto has taken action through new policies and regulations. “We realized that among shifting expectations, we needed rules and to set some bare minimums.” Welsh and other landscape architects have been instrumental in developing and implementing the world-leading Toronto Green Standard, Green Roof Bylaw, Bird Friendly Guidelines, Ravine Protection Bylaw, and Toronto’s biodiversity strategy.

Since 2010, the green standard has been guiding public and private projects to meet 35 sustainable design and performance measures, covering water and air quality, energy, ecosystems, and greenhouse gas emissions. “Over the past 15 years, it has enabled us to create space for trees and led to the use of silva cells and adequate soil for street trees,” Welsh said. It’s also a key tool in the city’s effort to become net-zero by 2040.

The city’s green roof bylaw was the first for a major city and it has proven successful. “Since 2010, we have built 1,000 green roofs.” Toronto is also part of a major bird migratory pathway traveled by more than 170 species. It’s bird friendly guidelines were another first and have helped reduce bird loss from collisions with buildings.

The city’s ravine and natural protection bylaw protects trees and natural areas from development. This has helped the city increase the tree canopy to 31 percent and more than 11.5 million trees, Welsh explained. But she said those trees are still not equitably spread throughout the city, with 58 percent of trees in more affluent neighborhoods. “There are gaps in the tree canopy, and equity factors into urban heat island severity.” The city has developed more than 30 green streets, a green street master plan, and thermal comfort guidelines to start to tackle the problem.

And to increase biodiversity, the city has invested in “re-naturalizing” the Don River, a two-decade, $1,4 billion flood protection and restoration project led by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, and supported local seed sourcing and pollinator gardens.

In Nunavut, Vancouver, and Toronto, landscape architects are showing the value of leading from within government and applying design skills to creating and implementing policy. Welsh noted that Nunavut is the “canary in the coal mine when it comes to climate change — emotionally and culturally.” One key message from these local leaders: an equitable approach — across cities and entire countries — is key to long-term resilience.

Flood Risk Is Widespread in the U.S. Few People Have Insurance for It, NPR, July 14
There is a major flood insurance gap: the vast majority of U.S. counties have experienced flooding over the past few decades, but only 4 percent of homeowners have federal or private flood insurance. One estimate found that a flood insurance policy can be an additional 30 to 75 percent on top of standard homeowners insurance.

I’m a Climate Scientist in Texas. Here’s What the Floods Tell Us, Time, July 10
Katherine Hayhoe, chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy, argues that climate change isn’t creating new risks but amplifying existing ones. “We need to prepare for what’s coming, not just what’s happened before. That means that we need more data, more expertise, more preparation, more communication, and more follow through, to keep people safe.”

What’s Holding Back Natural Climate Solutions?, Mongabay, July 14
New research from the University of Colorado at Boulder analyzed 352 peer-reviewed studies from 135 countries and documented nearly 2,500 barriers to implementing natural climate solutions. They found that “insufficient funding, patchy information, ineffective policies, and public skepticism” were top obstacles to achieving more nature-based solutions like reforestation and wetland restoration.

Baltimore’s Wetlands Restoration Pushes Ahead Despite Federal Funding Setbacks, Inside Climate News, July 13
The Middle Branch Resiliency Initiative, planned and designed by landscape architects at Field Operations, with Mahan Rykiel, DesignJones LLC, Kofi Boone, FASLA, NC State University, and The Urban Studio, lost $32 million in grant funding when the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program was cut. The state of Maryland, local agencies, and private philanthropies have made up much of the shortfall.

As Nations Lag on Climate Action, Their Cities Are Stepping Up. Here’s Proof, Grist, July 2
Three-quarters of the world’s leading cities that are part of the C40 network are cutting greenhouse gas emissions faster than their national governments. A new report found that while global emissions continue to increase, per capita emissions across these leading cities fell 7.5 percent on average between 2015 and 2024.

European Union Targets 90% Cut in Emissions by 2040 as Green Groups Cry Foul, The Guardian, July 2
The new approach, which allows for the purchase of carbon offsets from other countries, raises concerns about whether true greenhouse emission cuts will be achieved. The EU has to submit a new climate plan before COP30 in Brazil later this year.