Climate Change Design Guidelines

As stewards of the environment, landscape architects must advocate for climate positive outcomes, extending the current approach of carbon neutral outcomes.

Climate positive design projects provide net positive climate outcomes. They also provide environmental, social, cultural, and economic co-benefits.

To embrace climate positive design, there are three key actions landscape architects can to do:

1) Understand the environmental and carbon impacts of what we do through evidence-based research.

2) Manage and mitigate these impacts through good planning and design.

3) Advocate and educate for better understanding of carbon neutral and climate positive design with our clients, colleagues, collaborators, stakeholders and Government.

So that landscape architects in Aotearoa can be part of the solution, NZILA is developing a series of guideline documents. These guidelines will support landscape architects role within responses to climate change and climate positive design.

We hope to have working documentation in the last half of 2024/ first half 2025 and propose to make sections available to members as they reach an acceptable level.