2 minute read
Landscape, justice and green recovery
Paul Lincoln is Commissioning editor of the Landscape Journal.
Paul Lincoln gives an overview of what to expect in the Autumn 2020 Landscape Journal
This question, asked by Ugandan climate activist Hilda F Nakabuye, keynote speaker at the LI’s Climate Emergency CPD Day, highlights the balance between the professional and the personal, the global and the local, and was at the heart of this online event organised by the LI in September, now available to watch on LI Campus (page 68).
As COVID-19 rearranges our world, spaces that are normally managed by landowners and designed by landscape architects have become radically altered by the habits of their users. We asked six practitioners to watch their local spaces and report on the changes that have taken place, from Beirut to Bristol, and Roding Valley to a refugee camp in Ethiopia (page 6),
Hilda F Nakabuye also said, ‘my continent, Africa, barely emits 4% of global carbon emissions, but it is suffering the most’. The relationship between climate emergency, landscape justice and the way in which we recover from COVID-19 is addressed throughout the journal.
With only a few years remaining to turn the tide on global climate change and biodiversity loss, it is vital that our economic recovery from COVID-19 addresses this, by investing in green, nature-based infrastructure. This is the argument put forward in Greener Recovery, published by the LI in September (page13).
A plea for equity in landscape is made by Graham Duxbury, who asks if we can we make both a green and a fair recovery (page 23). The notion of landscape justice is considered by Matthew Ling who highlights the effect of a lack of tree cover on deprived communities (page 16); the impact of increased access to cycling is explored by Anna Sieczak (page 19) and Steve McAdam and Gabrielle Appiah consider how we engage effectively with a diverse range of communities (page 26).
One of the most challenging aspects of the pandemic is the assumed flight from the city. If this is happening, it will be useful to consider the initiatives being taken by The Landscape Practice and Marks Barfield Architects, who describe some of their inner-city approaches (page 53) and by Urban Splash, which is building a new development in Cambridge (page 57). Carole Wright honours Mary Seacole with a brand new Lambeth Walk. We also look at a new book by Tom Armour and Andrew Tempany, and ask the author of the recently published New life in Public Squares to look at the impact of COVID-19 on public space.
