Landscape+Urbanism

Category: science

  • 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…

  • Global Weirding in the PNW

    One of the group of amazing climate scientist-communicators Katherine Hayhoe, who is both a prolific presenter on all topics climate, along with being a force on Twitter (@KHayhoe) explaining and defending climate change science. Her ongoing YouTube series ‘Global Weirding‘ allows an accessible and fun (yet deeply informative) look at the topic from many angles…

  • 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…

  • You Down with IPCC?

    The connection to the science is vital to and expanded knowledge of climate change, as I mentioned in the post on the Foundations of Climate Change Inquiry. One of those foundations mentioned is the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is the body of the United Nations focusing on the global science…

  • Climate Change & Landscape Architecture

    Following up on the foundations of climate change, I want to dive into the specific context of landscape architecture, and lay some foundations on applicability to the profession. For these initial posts I am aiming for breadth and summation rather than detail at this point, to sketch out a broader research agenda, map out where…

  • A Changing Climate

    Lately, I’ve been obsessed. Like many of you, I imagine, I’ve been drawn down the rabbit hole and putting a lot of thought into global climate change, and it’s impact on the worlds in which we live and work.  From the October IPCC Report documenting impacts from 1.5°C warming to November’s Black Friday surprise in…

  • The Shape of Water

    An amazing resource posted on ASLA’s The Dirt (here) focuses on Design Guidelines for Urban Wetlands, specifically what shapes are optimal for performance. Using simulations and physical testing to investigate hydraulic performance the team from the Norman B. Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism (LCAU) at MIT.  Led by Heidi Nepf, Alan Berger and Celina Balderas Guzman along with a team…

  • Plants as Plants

    One of my favorite desk elements for years was a simple Lego tree, a plastic deciduous nondescript, species neutral, tree form.  Now, in a modern twist, those plants are actually made of plants.  See video below:

  • Resilience Matters

    Fans of Island Press (myself included) know of that, beyond their publication of a great diversity of books, the non-profit has a mission, to “provide the best ideas and information to those seeking to understand and protect the environment and create solutions to its complex problems”.  In this regard, beyond publication around these themes, they have…

  • Ecologists on Urban Ecology

    A great roundtable going on right now from The Nature of Cites asking ecologists “What is one thing every ecologist should know about urban ecology?”  Consisting of a range of voices from all over the globe, the conversation discusses the larger contributions of ecology, as well as some of the challenges, as mentioned by David Maddox in…