“To address climate change, environmental degradation, and social inequalities, we need coordinated political action and systemic change on a global scale. With a mission to safeguard the health, safety, and welfare of the public, landscape architects can become important agents of that change.” By Jeffrey Hou Read it here.
Through design, research, and projects, Landscape for Humanity creates spatial changes that support social and environmental justice with landscape architecture. Their Food-Energy-Water (FEW) approach aims to increase self-sufficiency through natural resources. For example, designing edible landscapes, creating sustainable portable water supplies, and providing flexible solar design. The Landscape for Humanity (L4H) non-profit works closely with […]
Hamer Center for Community Design at Penn State is a landscape architecture design center made possible by the Hamer Foundation. It is a collaboration with Penn State researchers and designers, government agencies, non-profit organizations, and citizen groups. One of the organizations values is a focus of socio-economic and environmentally conscious design and planning solutions. The […]
SEED, Social Economic Environmental Design, takes the success of LEED and apply it to social and economic issues, as well as environmental problem. SEED focuses on the community’s need, its asset and people’s participation. The goal of the community becomes the goal of SEED. The thing that set SEED apart from LEED is the attention […]
Environment and Activism podcast, hosted by Bay Area Book Festival, discusses design activism through an environmental lens. Guest designers discuss environmental activism topics from its history and hope, to its relation to other social issues, as well as specific topics such as food system and sustainability. [button url=”https://www.baybookfest.org/podcasts/podcasts-environment-and-activism/” target=”blank” background=”#444444″]Listen Here[/button]
In this article, Randolph Hestor argues that all design is design activism because there is no such thing as passive design. If all design is design activism, then what are the stances that designers take? Hestor outlines five main design stances and concludes by describing the characteristics of designers who are catalysts for social and […]
Landscape architects must enact equitable designs to bring forth environmental justice. They must be aware that low-income people are more likely to take residence in a place that poses environmental health risks thus landscape architects must take in a thorough land assessment. Then they should also co-generate with the population in order to design built […]
In contrast to the idea that modern technology will save the day, indigenous technologies provide a brighter outlook. Indigenous technologies work symbiotically with nature. Unlike modern technologies that tend to go against nature, indigenious technologies seek to harmonize with it. In the face of growing cities and increasing environmental degradation, Julia Watson, who teaches urban […]
Kate Orff discusses the need for meaningful landscape design to respond to current issues such as climate change. She believes in taking a stand in making landscape architecture “promulgate new civic life.” She explores new tools to achieve this while involving everyone in a community through examples of her projects throughout the United States. While […]
Lack of active measures in climate change mitigation is largely due to the fact that dismantlement of high greenhouse gas industries creates a vacuum. Project Drawdown is an organization that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by providing design solutions such as alternative industrial practices and technologies. In order to fulfill human needs, the transition […]
