Designing for Climate Change

Can landscape architecture and urban design help reduce the effects of climate change and flooding problems?

Simple measures such as tree planting, carefully planned parks and green areas, sustainable urban drainage solutions (SUDS) – green swales, roof top planting, appropriate design of flood storage ponds and water diversion channels should be part of any urban and landscape design.

To design for climate change new cities should be holistic hybrids accommodating both buildings and nature. This means applying less hard surfaces such as concrete and tarmac and more green and blue surfaces which will absorb large amounts of rainfall.

Good urban and landscape design will be able to manage and solve many challenges at once while adding exceptional new opportunities in the spaces addressed. New measures along with new use of materials will lead to different and exciting pragmatic solution. This will automatically revise our use and design of urban areas, while supporting life in an improved contemporary city culture.