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Session Guide

60-Minute Education Session

SUN-C05: BIG PARKS, BIG IMPACTS: Raising the Stakes for Performative Landscapes

Sunday, October 29, 2023
3:45pm – 4:45pm CT
1.00 PDH, LA CES/HSW, AICP, FL, NY/HSW

Landscape architects touch only one percent of the planet’s surface, but massive public parks present an outsized opportunity to advance climate action, implement carbon-positive design, and increase biodiversity. With an evidence-based approach guiding design decisions, innovative examples demonstrate how complex projects can offer transferable and replicable lessons for projects of any scale.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Explore how the profession is embracing a more science- and evidence-based approach to the design process, focusing on emissions, embodied carbon, operational carbon, sequestration, and biodiversity metrics.
  • Understand how to take responsibility for the climate impacts of projects at any scale through immersion in the design process of three post-industrial landscapes.
  • Learn about the various tools that designers use to calculate carbon, measure biodiversity, and conduct public engagement and outreach efforts (e.g., Pathfinder, Carbon Conscience, etc.).
  • Interact with designers of three of the world’s largest public parks currently in design, permitting, and construction phases, and engage with them in a group brainstorming session on best practices.