Successful climate action looks beyond the confines of a building’s walls and expands its focus to include the surrounding landscape. Urban environments sequester immense amounts of carbon and remain significant contributors to the climate crisis we face today. Simple interventions, such as thoughtful material selection and conscious planting, can have significant positive impacts on the environment and are often easier to pursue than current practices.
Modern design must take responsibility for reducing carbon emissions, and organizations such as Climate Positive Design (CPD) are doing their part to develop feasible methods for pursuing more sustainable practices. The CPD, along with numerous advocacy groups, is focused on revealing the simple steps towards transforming our built landscape to serve our environment. Whether through replacing impermeable surfaces, such as concrete and stone with wood or asphalt, or reforesting cities with native species, preservation efforts must be focused both inside and out.
Landscape preservation is climate action because the spaces that surround our structural environment define our relationship to these buildings, and by improving this landscape we can reduce our impact on it.
The Just Places Lab at Cornell University focuses on understanding the relationship betw
Architecture 2030 is a non-profit organization established in response to our planet’s climate em
Good architecture is built to serve the needs of everyday day people.