Climate science gives landscape architects more precise methods to predict the increasingly volatile ways the elements may behave around the sites they design.
By Paul Coseo
Landscape Architecture Magazine, November 2013
When we design places, our designs exacerbate
climate change impacts or lessen them. For
instance, increased precipitation owing to climate
change is made worse by impervious surfaces, which
contribute to stormwater flooding. Finding ways to
incorporate less impervious surface and more tree plantings
into landscape designs can lessen this effect. Before
we design, we should understand the important natural
and social processes of a place. Especially with climate
change, we require accurate information. A system of
monitoring and prediction provides that critical information
necessary to plan and design for changing climates.
The much-anticipated Climate Action Plan released by the
Obama administration in June of this year addresses greenhouse
gas mitigation and the impacts of climate change. Included
in this plan are directives to consider climate resilience (the
ability to successfully adapt to climate impacts) when federal
agencies provide funding and grants to state and local agencies.
Landscape architects will increasingly be asked to address
climate resiliency in projects—awareness among clients has
been rising steadily. Genuinely resilient and adaptive designs
must incorporate the latest science on regional climate trends
and future scenarios. Society’s adaptation to climate change
requires landscape architects’ unique ability to weave together
the knowledge of natural processes with social factors to create
beloved and healthy landscapes.
Paul Coseo is an Adjunct Lecturer in the Department of Urban and Regional
Planning at the University of Michigan and a registered landscape
architect in the State of Illinois. His research examines the
interrelationships between the built environment and urban climate.
http://www.zinio.com/www/browse/issue.jsp?skuId=416283270&prnt=&offer=&categoryId=&pss=1
By Paul Coseo
Landscape Architecture Magazine, November 2013
When we design places, our designs exacerbate
climate change impacts or lessen them. For
instance, increased precipitation owing to climate
change is made worse by impervious surfaces, which
contribute to stormwater flooding. Finding ways to
incorporate less impervious surface and more tree plantings
into landscape designs can lessen this effect. Before
we design, we should understand the important natural
and social processes of a place. Especially with climate
change, we require accurate information. A system of
monitoring and prediction provides that critical information
necessary to plan and design for changing climates.
The much-anticipated Climate Action Plan released by the
Obama administration in June of this year addresses greenhouse
gas mitigation and the impacts of climate change. Included
in this plan are directives to consider climate resilience (the
ability to successfully adapt to climate impacts) when federal
agencies provide funding and grants to state and local agencies.
Landscape architects will increasingly be asked to address
climate resiliency in projects—awareness among clients has
been rising steadily. Genuinely resilient and adaptive designs
must incorporate the latest science on regional climate trends
and future scenarios. Society’s adaptation to climate change
requires landscape architects’ unique ability to weave together
the knowledge of natural processes with social factors to create
beloved and healthy landscapes.
Paul Coseo is an Adjunct Lecturer in the Department of Urban and Regional
Planning at the University of Michigan and a registered landscape
architect in the State of Illinois. His research examines the
interrelationships between the built environment and urban climate.
http://www.zinio.com/www/browse/issue.jsp?skuId=416283270&prnt=&offer=&categoryId=&pss=1