Climate Positive Design

Team US visits Torsby! After a long journey to Scandinavia, the US team traveled to tour the Vestre Steel Factory in Torsby, Sweden. Erik Olsson and Mattias Magnusson gave an excellent tour, and everyone learned about the early processes that transform raw materials into furniture. Beautiful weather, lots of learning, and many smiles along the way 😊 Today we travel to The Plus to continue the manufacturing story. Stay tuned!

"Should landscape architects focus on A) climate adaptation B) climate mitigation C) biodiversity or D) all the above? Ding ding ding … The answer is D – landscape architects can do it all." "I have been widely promoting our ability to achieve option D through nature-based solutions. But a meeting with a United Nations (UN) National Adaptation Plans leader at COP28 last December caught me off-guard." "With my North American work focused on coastal adaptation, I assumed everyone has been planning for adaptation for decades, and that the global conversation on carbon and biodiversity was progressing rapidly. However, it turns out that’s not the case." Read more from Pamela Conrad, ASLA's inaugural Biodiversity and Climate Action Fellow, in the first in a series of posts in ASLA's THE DIRT: https://bit.ly/3yLkuqd Image Credit: De-Pave Park, Alameda, California / CMG Landscape Architecture

Thrilled to lead one of the selected teams this fall and looking forward to collaboration with the students, Michael Blier, community, and various studios. Harvard University Graduate School of Design students, be sure to sign up early! "The Envision Resilience Challenge, a multi-university design studio and community engagement initiative developed by Remain, announced it is headed to Maine with eight universities set to participate. Like coastal communities around the world, Portland and South Portland are at the forefront of a changing climate. The Gulf of Maine waters are warming and sea levels are rising at three to four times the global average. Winter storms this year have flooded downtowns, damaged wharves, washed away historic structures and set record high tides. University teams will be tasked with tackling these challenges as they design novel ways of living under future conditions that address the intersecting issues of affordable housing, transportation, urban heat, equity, local industry and ecology." https://lnkd.in/eA2du9kU Climate Positive Design Loeb Fellowship

ASLA announced a two-year fellowship with Pamela Conrad, ASLA, PLA, LEED AP, founder of Climate Positive Design. As ASLA’s inaugural Biodiversity and Climate Action Fellow, Conrad will research landscape architecture strategies that are most effective in addressing the climate and biodiversity crisis, with a specific focus on underserved communities in the U.S. and worldwide. “I am honored to participate in ASLA’s inaugural Biodiversity and Climate Action Fellowship. This builds upon our strong working relationship over the past several years. I am eager to advance more accessible nature-based guidance for all, particularly for underserved communities. It is my hope that this work elevates the awareness of the profession globally and scales-up our positive impacts around the world,” said Conrad. Read more in ASLA's THE DIRT: https://bit.ly/3UrBom6 Image Credit: Pamela Conrad, ASLA / Climate Positive Design

In recognition of World Landscape Architecture Month #WLAM2024 climate action day, I'm pleased to release the 2023 Beyond Neutral Annual Report for Climate Positive Design . It's been quite a year — hope you check it out! https://lnkd.in/gKenpCes Some of my proudest accomplishments are: > including more voices from around the world, especially women and those in developing countries, > linking arms with our civil/infrastructure engineering and planning colleagues to scale action, > raising awareness of reducing emissions from high emitting elements like concrete and steel, and > increasing knowledge around the positive benefits of Nature-Based Solutions. A special shout out to our Climate Positive Design Top Contributors highlighted in this year’s report, including:  > ASPECT Studios: Nirvana Kadrić, Heather Stevenson, Warwick Savvas > Damon Farber Landscape Architects: Jean Garbarini, Jodi Refsland, PLA, SITES AP, ISA Arborist >Janet Rosenberg & Studio: Wayne Swanton, Nicholas Gosselin > LPA, Inc.: Naomi Nishimoto, Andrew Wickham, PLA, ASLA, Richard Bienvenu > OCULUS: Simon Bond, Aidan Smith, Roger Jasprizza > SaRedup Design: awatif ismail, Farizan Sulaiman > Stantec: Claudia Althoff Adomavicius, Zaid Dabash, P.E., Kyle Steele, Greg Meyer, Craig A. Walker, ASLA, Rob Terry, Ariel Hadley > İzmir Demokrasi Üniversitesi: Nurdan Erdoğan, Ilgaz Ekşi Alpat, Ayşenur Kaylı, @betul çavdar, and > Team eCache including Manju Rajeev Kanchan. American Society of Landscape Architects IFLA International Federation of Landscape Architects Harvard University Graduate School of Design Landscape Architecture Foundation Architecture 2030

As I head to DC for the Global Concrete Decarbonization Convening Hosted by the ClimateWorks Foundation, Breakthrough Energy , and Climate Imperative Foundation I'm excited to share our climate champions for the week -- April Philips Design Works, Inc. The design team largely met their Climate Positive Design Challenge goals through the use of low-carbon Eco Concrete on their project at AIM - The Center for Food & Agriculture and Marin Farmers Market. Project Details - Location: Marin Civic Center, San Rafael, California, USA - Size: 3 acres - Client/team members: April Philips Design Works (April Philips, FASLA), Sherwood Design Engineers & Multistudio (formerly Gould Evans Architecture) "The Marin Farmers Market & Center for Food and Agriculture master plan vision is to advance climate adaptive solutions that draw down GHG and promote resilience. The site design vision is based on environmental sustainability and community resiliency. The drawing down of carbon footprint strategies for this project have been endorsed by the Drawdown Marin Action plan. The Project Drawdown organization and local initiatives such as the Marin Carbon Farming project have begun to demonstrate the positive benefits of carbon sequestering strategies in the landscape in the fight to combat climate change. To measure the climate positive impacts proposed in its regenerative based design approach, the AIM master plan design vision was put through the Climate Positive Design Challenge using the Pathfinder tool to calculate the projected carbon emissions of the project. The Farmers Market and CFA master plan vision is identified in this climate positive design synopsis as Design Option 1, the vision design concept detailed in the Masterplan Phase 2 Summary Report dated July 20, 2020. This ultimate design vision proposes the highest level of sustainability and innovation possible for the project to become a positive role model showcasing regenerative agriculture & sustainable design for the community to learn from and a beacon for other projects to emulate. The team choose the most sustainable and least carbon emitting materials and strategies available to understand what the climate positive design score of the “north star” vision could be. With this approach, the score is currently at 2 years to positive."

THREE CHEERS FOR CONCRETE DECARBONIZATION! The two day event hosted by ClimateWorks Foundation, Breakthrough Energy and Climate Imperative Foundation was packed with innovation, inspiration and key takeaways. As the only landscape architect (out of 80 in the room), here’s my top 10 list: 1. Carbon policies are here and more are coming. Check out Toronto’s embodied carbon caps, which will pave the way for many more like it. 2. Why do we need policies? 75% of the infrastructure that will be around in 2050 is not yet built. We can design better and requirements will help support low-carbon nature based infrastructure. 3. Our government is on board. I was really impressed to see the White House leaders, EPA, GSA, DOT and DOE stand in solidarity for pathways to decarbonization. 4. AND they are boosting the economy to do so. Look out for funding from EPA, DOE, FEMA, FHWA, and GSA (details in pics). 5. Many of these support innovations like LC3 (Limestone Calcined Clay Cement) which we will be adding to Pathfinder new version release this fall. 6. But beyond that we can also use less of it by designing for efficiency. There are lots of ways to learn how to do that in the Climate Positive Design Toolkit and Carbon Smart Materials Palette. 7. Sharing is caring. As countries develop we can support them by sharing free and accessible resources. 8. Indigenous voices, underserved communities and local construction techniques matter. They are all key to a just transition. 9. You/we are not alone. There are lots of people dedicated to this cause and we are stronger when we work together. So grateful for my Architecture 2030 , Carbon Leadership Forum , Building Transparency, Kelly Alvarez Doran, Don Davies PE,SE , C40 Cities and Arup colleagues also in attendance. 10. Lead with a vision. A reminder that we all want healthy communities, clean air and water, and a livable planet goes a long way. Keep going! Climate Positive Design Harvard University Graduate School of Design

This week we recognize Spacecoop – International Landscape Architectural Office as our Climate Champions for their work on Rio 55_urban wilderness in Madrid, Spain. It’s so wonderful to see projects with a Climate Positive Design approach constructed! Project insights from the team: “The site was a vacant inner city urban plot and our challenge to naturalise it within the brief's economic constraints. The client brief was also to help promote innovation, talent and creativity through best practice with a "low maintenance" and "water conservation" design baseline. The most effective climate positive strategies the team pursued were to protect natural systems by using a diverse mix of drought tolerant adapted plant species, permeable paving materials and convincing the client of the importance of planting over parking slab (loading permitting) to improve building acclimatization wherever possible. Another successful strategy generated flexible open spaces for the offices at the same time equitable places for events/education/play etc. by other public. During the project we learned however small a project it has the potential to create a space for mental restoration or relaxation away from the workplace. By designing a completely naturalistic landscape with landform sculpting, it offered us the chance to make a more diverse landscape with more potential for mix of private, semi-private, and open democratic places for social interaction or outdoor working. The natural wilderness exploded into life and after just one year the gardens were full of colour/textures/life evolving into the shaded "sensory" island seating areas that were planned allowing users to almost immediately disconnect and reboot at a few steps from their office environment. Sustainable landscapes like this create resilient communities able to withstand and recover from all types of human catastrophic events.” Firm: SPACECOOP Project: Rio 55_urban wilderness Location: Madrid, Spain  Client: Grupo Insur Team Members: James Braybrooke, Luis Asencio, L35 Size: 8,500 m2

Happy to recognize LPA, Inc. this week as our Climate Positive Design Champions for their work on Britton Middle School New Student Union in Morgan Hill, California. It's great to see carbon performance prioritized on schools! "The New Student Union at Britton Middle School creates a visual and physical connection between the school and community. Seen as an important piece of civic infrastructure for Morgan Hill, the project team felt a responsibility to create a sustainable, long-term gathering and learning space for the students and community. The Pathfinder app was an integral tool in the development of the site design. Periodically throughout each design phase, the team set goals and checked the carbon performance of the project and made necessary adjustments. By integrating the tool into the design review process at each phase, the landscape architects were able to make informed decisions about site materials and the scale of the outdoor spaces, ultimately resulting in a 16-year reduction in how long until the project is carbon positive. K-12 projects in particular often have high demands for space and challenging budgets, which can make realizing performance goals a challenge. Learning to use the Climate Positive Design analysis as an integral part of the design process allowed the design team to meet the project’s needs and performance goals." Firm: LPA Inc  Location: Morgan Hill, California  Client: Morgan Hill Unified School District  Team Members Integrated Design Team: LPA  Size 3.4 acres