Landscape+Urbanism

Category: land use

  • Daily Drawdown 13: Urban Forests

    This is the thirteenth in an ongoing series illustrating the relationship of Drawdown strategies to landscape architecture. For context, read the initial post here. My presentation for Grey to Green is right around the corner, so if you’re at the conference come check it out (Thursday, April 5th in Toronto), so this will be the…

  • Daily Drawdown 12: Smart Growth

    This is the twelth in an ongoing series illustrating the relationship of Drawdown strategies to landscape architecture. For context, read the initial post here. As I alluded to in the post on Buildings & Cities, there are a number of secondary Drawdown strategies around ‘smart growth’ that have the ability to make a positive contribution…

  • Daily Drawdown 8: Soils

    This is the eighth in an ongoing series illustrating the relationship of Drawdown strategies to landscape architecture. For context, read the initial post here. Drawdown outlines a number of individual strategies, which allows areas to be isolated and the impacts. It’s also useful to think of those beneficial relationships, and how leveraging changes in one…

  • Daily Drawdown 6: Coastal Wetlands

    This is the sixth in an ongoing series illustrating the relationship of Drawdown strategies to landscape architecture. For context, read the initial post here. There are a number of solutions mentioned in Drawdown that interface with the natural environment, and in doing so have a direct interface to landscape architecture. Coastal Wetlands are an important…

  • Daily Drawdown 5: Buildings & Cities

    This is the fifth in an ongoing series illustrating the relationship of Drawdown strategies to landscape architecture. For context, read the initial post here. Beyond looking at a specific strategy, in this post I wanted to focus on a specific sector that compiles what seems most relevant to landscape architecture – Buildings and Cities. This…

  • Daily Drawdown 4: Perennial Biomass

    This is the fourth in an ongoing series illustrating the relationship of Drawdown strategies to landscape architecture. For context, read the initial post here. One Drawdown subject that fascinated me when I started reading about it was Perennial Biomass, specifically being able to use landscape waste as fuel for combustion as energy production, or for…

  • Daily Drawdown 1: Lessons for Landscape Architects

    As you delve into the various publications related to climate change, you find it runs the gamut from impenetrable to porous. I personally find much of design writing on the subject a bit toothless, and as far as scientific writings, the NCA4 pretty readable and compelling, whereas the IPCC reports require a bit of a…

  • It’s kind of a big deal

    Yeah, I mean that deal – the Green New Deal, put forth today by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (aka AOC), the newly elected Democrat from New York, and Ed Markey, Democratic Senator from Massachusettes. And yes, it was the big news of the day. There’s plenty of coverage about it, and lots of stories and opinions…

  • Solutions for Cities

    As mentioned in the previous deep dive into the recent IPCC Special Report, this city-specific version of includes a Summary for Urban Policy Makers, from December, 2018, giving a bit more context on the impacts summarized in October the 1.5°C of global warming, specifically focused on what it means for cities. As mentioned, “Climate science…

  • Putting the Fun in Urban Funiculars

    Prior to moving back to Portland, I was fascinated in thinking about mobility options in Seattle and the idea of a series of funiculars that would connect the waterfront to the areas of downtown uphill towards 5th or 6th Avenues.  Walking those hills is a great workout, but even with grand plans to .  Perhaps…