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The Canadian Society of Landscape Architects
Climate Change Adaptation Task Force
honouring our past: sustaining our future
Janet Rosenberg & Studio Inc.
02 Planning and Deign Inc..
Andre Arata & Gerald Pau/ PLANIA
Colleen S.L. Mercer Clarke, MSc., M.L.A., Ph.D., FCSLA
Chair: CSLA Task Force on Climate Change Adaptation
Gordon Smith, M.L.A., APALA
President, CSLA
 Landscape Architecture is the design profession most concerned with the
planning, design, management and stewardship of land and water.
 We are deeply committed to the environment of Canada and to the
enrichment of human experience with nature.
Landscape Architects are at work in…
Parks and protected areas
Photos Credit: Colleen Mercer Clarke ©
Urban planning and design
. Toronto, Plant Architect Inc.
Peace Garden
Transportation
Paysages en Université: YUL/MTL.
Cultural landscapes
Green urbanism
Lansdowne Park: PFS Studio
Green infrastructure
Sustainable Neighbourhood Low Impact Retrofit; Schollen & Company
Vancouver Convention Centre BC. PWL Partnership
We believe that
the challenges posed by climate change are the defining issues of our generation
Landscape Architects are (already)
 interpreting the effects of climate change on local environments
 promoting mitigation of greenhouse gases
 pro-actively planning for existing and anticipated environmental change
 innovating through interdisciplinary/inter-sectoral collaboration
The CSLA Climate Change Adaptation Task Force
The CSLA is committed to providing
assistance to its members, and to other
professions, levels of government and
Canadian business and communities,
• to enhance their understanding of
the factors that have created
planetary climate change, and what
these changes mean to them
• to promote opportunities to mitigate
ongoing emissions that will
accelerate deterioration in global
climates, and
•
to advance instruments and
ingenuity that will promote resiliency
and sustainability in natural
environment and communities.
We know our changing
environment will affect all
aspects of Canadian society
• ecosystem health
• social justice
• economic stability
• individual well-being
The urgent challenge before us is to redesign our communities in
the context of their bioregional landscapes enabling them to
adapt to climate change and mitigate its root causes.
Our primary goals are to
1.
Reduce emissions
2.
Sequester carbon
3.
Avoid impact
4.
Prepare for damage
5.
Plan for change
To slow the pace of changes to our environment,
and to reduce the severity of the impacts, society
must move swiftly to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions and enhance the capacity of the natural
environment to sequester carbon (mitigation), and
to prepare now for anticipated changes
(adaptation). (Excerpted from the CSLA’s position
paper on climate change)
What we can do
• help to mainstream climate change in decision-making
• lead interdisciplinary teams on adaptation
• promote resilience and sustainability in environments,
systems and structures
• collaborate in designing more widely useful protection
measures than sea walls
• employ greener approaches to stormwater management
through low impact development, infiltration systems,
treated disposal
• value urban canopies and urban natural areas as
sequestering/sheltering assets
• promote innovation in urban planning and advocate for
public transportation hubs
• assist with needed changes to environmental assessment
and regulatory instruments
• integrate planning and design for climate change in
existing university programs, as well as provide
continuing training and tools for practitioners
Where we need help
•
Up to date knowledge on current changes in environment
•
•
•
•
•
Sea level rise
Severe storm events
Precipitation changes
Changes in heat and cold periods and extremes
Direction on new planning and design horizons
•
•
•
•
Changes in growing seasons
New design storms
Anticipated changes in building code and construction practice
Planned retreat from hazardous areas
•
Advances in tools, technologies, systems
•
Support for interdisciplinary planning and design teams
•
Support for advocating alternative approaches and
methodologies
Solid pathways to
move science to
practice
Flood level = Mean sea level +
Vertical land motion +
Fingerprinting +
Storm surge +
Tide conditions
And how much water is coming
downriver because of cloudburst…
Charlottetown before and after anticipated high water event at
4.93m above chart datum (current mean sea level)
(Credit Hope Parnham).
Time frames for adaptation
What are the new design
storms?
How can the National
Building Code be adapted
to PLAN for change as
opposed to react to
change?
100 year life
of structure
50 year life
of structure
Change can also be an opportunity
“Whatever is the solution, we
know for sure the North
American city will need a
dramatic retrofit.”
Patrick Condon, 2010. Seven rules for
sustainable communities, p129
• Ingenuity
• Innovation
• creativity
•
reduce energy demands
•
promote renewable sources
•
improve well-being
•
make communities resilient
•
achieve sustainability
We can create a future
that is “techier, cooler,
heathier” … we can
make this an exciting
journey
Adapted from Rockstrum and Klum 2015
Lees+Associates Landscape Architects
Landscape Architects bridge between natural environments and human society.
There are 2000 of us that can help meet the challenges of a changing future.
by creating a resilient and sustainable society
For further information, please contact :
Colleen Mercer Clarke, Chair, CSLA Climate Change
Task Force
[email protected]
or Michelle Legault, Executive Director, Canadian Society of Landscape Architects,
12 Forillon, Ottawa ON K2M 2W5 | 1.866.781.9799 | [email protected]