Research on climate change, biodiversity loss, and systemic inequities is now being undermined. But there are still “crevices, nooks, and crannies” where important independent research is being conducted. “We need to nurture, protect, and enable these ‘petri dishes,’ no matter how small,” said Lucinda Sanders, FASLA, CEO of OLIN, during the kick-off of the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF)’s latest Leadership and Innovation Symposium.
“We need to super-commit and do the hard work. We need to be action-oriented and advocates for healing. Respect, dignity, and love are foundational to our survival.”
Sanders introduced the latest class of six LAF Leadership and Innovation Fellows. They outlined the result of their year-long research, envisioning positive new futures in the areas of infrastructure, policy, public engagement, and agriculture:
Embodied carbon emissions from the extraction, manufacturing, and construction of materials like concrete, steel, and foam can result in enormous carbon footprints for a landscape architecture projects. Planting trees and plants sequesters carbon but can take a long time to offset emissions generated from building landscapes. Through her research, Anya Domlesky, ASLA, PLA, director of research at SWA Group, a landscape architecture and urban design firm, found some landscapes can take up to 200 years to become carbon neutral.
The next stage of “deep decarbonization” of the built environment must focus on reusing infrastructure, saving the emissions embedded in existing concrete and steel. Domlesky thinks ports, bridges, rail lines, roads, highways, and river infrastructure can all be adapted. “We can graft new uses on existing transportation infrastructure.” This kind of adaptation can “be climate action, if done right.”
She offered examples: an old bridge was remodeled to include a bike way; another was modified to expand space just for pedestrians. Urban forms can be redesigned to increase liveability and active transportation. The vast spaces now used by cars, including roadways and parking lots, take up 13-39 percent of cities’ areas, totaling more than 4,208 square feet (391 meters) per person. “A 10 percent reduction in roadways alone would generate $28 billion in value.”
A new policy framework is needed to undo widespread damage to rivers and water bodies, explained Aaron Hernandez, ASLA, an associate with the landscape architecture firm Reed Hilderbrand. Focusing on Toronto, Canada, he explained how the rights of industry have trumped those of nature for centuries, leading to a concrete landscape, extreme flooding, and chemical pollution.
Hernandez said transformational policy changes are needed, rooted in the legal recognition of the “agency of nature.” Rights for rivers, forests, and entire ecosystems can enable new forms of governance, restoring stewardship rights to Indigenous peoples.
The rights of nature movement started in the 1970s. In recent years, rivers in New Zealand, the U.S., and Colombia have achieved legal personhood. In 2021, the Mutuhekau Shipu, also known as the Magpie River, in Canada was granted legal rights by the Innu First Nation of Canada. It now has the right to flow, maintain its biodiversity, be free of pollution, and sue. In Toronto, Hernandez thinks rights for the Rouge National Urban Park would be a way to launch the ecological restoration of the greater Toronto region. But “a river is a community,” so restoration must be rooted in reciprocal relationships with the land and Indigenous peoples.
To have greater impact, landscape architecture projects should be designed as learning labs, with curricula for K-12 educators, argued Brad Howe, ASLA, PLA, principal at SCAPE Landscape Architecture. Parks can become an “extension of the classroom” and “provide immersive STEM education.” Teaching the community about landscapes will grow the next generation of stewards and advocates.
SCAPE has been applying a “design, build, teach” approach with its Living Breakwaters in Staten Island, New York, and Tom Lee Park in Memphis, Tennessee. Both projects have “ready to use curricula” for teachers, developed with educational partners.
For Tom Lee Park, Howe and the team at SCAPE, along with design partner Studio Gang, worked with students and educators early in the design process to develop accessible site elements that teach students about place making, ecological design, biodiversity, climate resilience, and more. “We planted over 1,000 trees, with a diverse canopy, including 10 different species of oaks.” The park is now used to teach all 3rd and 9th grade students in Memphis each year about “how trees are important to ecosystems, including birds and insects”; how they provide shade and cooling, using heat readings. And “we designed pollinator labs at the edge of the river.”
Landscape-based education can take many forms — from self-guided tours to field trips and full integration into classroom learning. Howe said landscape architects are “not experts in curricula” but can be a bridge between clients and educators, enable collaboration, and “shape the learning context.”