2 minute read
Extraordinary for Landscape Architects
A landscape approach to transport is about realising multiple outcomes, and considering how new infrastructure can simultaneously enhance public health and wellbeing, local ecology and biodiversity, climate resilience, landscape character and sense of place.
Carolin Göhler FLI President, Landscape Institute, Page 66
The impact of transport on landscape, the environment, and society is one of the key driving forces of our times. As the largest-emitting sector of greenhouse gases in the UK,¹ transitioning to more sustainable forms of mobility and connectivity is an essential part of any net zero ambition. But as well as climate, how we plan and design transport infrastructure also holds great consequence for local places and communities, public space, health and wellbeing, biodiversity and nature recovery.
What if we were to start by prioritising these outcomes when planning and designing transport infrastructure, and putting people, place and nature first? This is exactly what a landscape-led approach to transport offers, and the benefits are clear to see throughout this summer edition of the journal.
Ahead, we look at the impact that revolutions in transport have had on the cultural landscape of the UK, and the significance of transport in placemaking today, learning from Alister Kratt FLI that “it’s about establishing the place and then securing the connections appropriate to support that place”.
We offer an introduction to what landscape professionals can bring to highway, rail and active travel infrastructure, with Noel Farrer PPLI arguing that “landscape-led approaches ensure that the design process for new roads identifies the impacts and opportunities and creates a net-positive balance of outcomes”. Meanwhile, a new masterplan by Landscape Institute (LI) Registered Practice, Periscope, puts forward an approach to neighbourhood mobility which it says “has the potential to transform spatial and urban planning in the UK”.
From across the industry, we bring insights from the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT), Sustrans, and National Highways. The Landscape Institute’s latest research on Landscape and Carbon sits alongside that on nonlinear infrastructure and land use for public transport, and we hear from LI voices including a Level 3 apprenticeship success story, and President, Carolin Göhler FLI.
As Carolin rightly declares, “Landscape professionals are essential not only for articulating [the] vision, but for making it happen.”
