01.11.2021
How to fight the climate emergency with nature-based design
How can we design nature-based solutions when mitigating our cities and societies against climate emergency?
How can we design nature-based solutions and biodiversity to address the needs of cities to mitigate against the effects of climate change and specific issues like extreme urban heat?
These are amongst the themes discussed in the American Planning Association’s ‘People Behind the Plans‘ podcast series, where host Courtney Kashima, AICP, is joined by SLA partner and design principal Rasmus Astrup.
The two also discuss a few of the projects that SLA worked on from places around the globe like Toronto, Abu Dhabi, Copenhagen, and Detroit. They also dig into the significance of local knowledge and expertise when taking on projects as well as how to deal with the disproportionate impacts on more vulnerable populations.
Listen to the episode below or wherever you get your podcasts.
Perspectives
The ravines of Toronto: The city’s living icon
When we think of urban icons, our minds tend to go to skylines, towers, and plazas – the things we build to represent who we are. But sometimes, the true icons of a city are not designed at all. They are shaped by time, water, geology, and the quiet persistence of life itself. For Toronto, that icon is its ravines.
From data to daily life: How SLIM helped design 104 parks for Abu Dhabi
Nature is our origin. The city is our forgetting
What if the city isn’t broken because of noise or pollution – but because it has lost its meaning? And what if the true green transition doesn’t start with energy systems but with our senses?
In his new op-ed in Byrummonitor, SLA’s founder Stig L. Andersson argues that the current crisis of civilization – from climate breakdown to mental health — is rooted in how we’ve designed our cities to disconnect us from nature.