BY BRADFORD MCKEE
DurkTalsma/iStock by Getty Images.
Development as usual is not cutting it in the era of climate change. A new interdisciplinary report released this morning by the American Society of Landscape Architects calls on public officials and private interests both to transform the ways they plan, design, and build at all scales to counter climate change, and it asserts that the most fundamental and potent mitigation policies and strategies are based in landscape solutions.
ASLA?s Blue Ribbon Panel on Climate Change and Resilience comprised 10 professionals?five of them landscape architects?who produced a slate of recommended policies and planning solutions to guide national and local leaders, as well as private-sector decision makers as they work to address climate change in several specific development arenas. That includes the protection of natural resources, city planning, environmental justice, transportation, and agriculture. They preface these approaches by encouraging that they be based in incentives; be holistic in nature; consider racial and social equity; enroll individuals in communities; and operate at regional, local, and site-specific levels. Highlights of the recommendations include funding green stormwater infrastructure and conserving critical water supplies, requiring transit-oriented development, heightened attention to ?vulnerable? communities at greatest risk of climate impacts, regional transportation planning, and the preservation of farml...