10 minute read
Class of 2030: learning net zero
What recommendations will students currently at university make for those who need to tackle the demands of climate emergency by 2030?
Knowledge transfer in the era of climate emergency
Nikolett Puskas
University College London
Teaching anad learning will have to start with some critical self-reflection and courage to avoid shying away from tough questions. We have to unlearn. We have to co-create knowledge around the global challenges, and their tangible impacts on our everyday lives. Then, as we collaboratively explore and gain deeper understanding, can we develop strategies and responses to successfully address ambitious climate change targets. We have to change our old ways that got us here, and I think this change will only come from deeper understanding. Professionals have to connect theory and practice and, in my opinion, this means we have to ‘get out there’, reconnect with and get to know the spaces we address as landscape architects, planners and managers. The next generation of professionals in these fields should be encouraged to adopt this approach, and become facilitators and advocates for more inclusive and transformative approaches.
It would also be of crucial importance to facilitate knowledge transfer and co-creation in outside physical spaces that are under study/ design/subject to climate-conscious transformation. This would be a step towards both reclaiming the right to the city and the right for environmental justice.
As a good practical example to illustrate the above, I would like to reference Extinction Rebellion, which started in the UK in 2018 and became a global environmental direct-action movement. As a personal example to illustrate the important quality of authenticity or leading by example and that no act is too small, I would like to invite everyone to look at our MOVE! Beirut project: www.instagram.com/ movebeirut/. It is funded by a UCL Beacon Bursary, realised to address people’s mental and physical wellbeing after the Beirut explosions on 4th August 2020, and demonstrates access and multiple possibilities to use public spaces. The project was a close collaboration between Muay Thai teacher, Kru Yai Rocky Kiblawi from Team Shogun and myself from UCL, with additional local venue partners in Beirut. It is an example of how academic research and theory can be put into practice for public good – free and accessible to all, situated in public spaces.
Nikolett Puskas is a PhD candidate at the Institute for Global Prosperity, University College London, holds an MSc in Leadership for Global Sustainable Cities, an MA in Sustainable Design, and a BSc in Light Industrial Engineering.
Creative research methods in the Anthropocene
Francesco Carer
Newcastle University
Charlotte Veal
Newcastle University
In this discussion piece, two early career voices in landscape at Newcastle University examine the role of interdisciplinary creative methods in deepening our understanding of, and response to, the climate and biodiversity crises. As current and future teachers, their conversation reflects on key areas for landscape research, practice, and teaching.
Charlotte Veal [CV]: What methods in your field might prove beneficial if applied to the biodiversity and climate emergency?
Francesco Carer [FC]: A method used in landscape archaeology that might provide a significant contribution to climate change mitigation strategies is Historic Landscape Characterisation. This method, also known as HLC, is based on the identification of a series of landscape character types that define a specific landscape. The historical origins of these types are also investigated, and each type is mapped through a geodatabase. I believe HLC can help us understand how climate change has affected and is affecting the distinctive character of historic landscapes. This, in turn, will enable us to manage the future transformation of historic landscapes in a sustainable way.
CV: Landscape studies have explored the promises of arts-led methods. In my research on international borderscapes – pinch-points for current/future climate and biodiversity crises – I combine dance practice and choreography to provide creative responses to issues of security and landscape. Dance acts as a provocation for sociopolitical thought, the generation of new perspectives, and novel techniques to learn about the Anthropocene. This might include climate-induced cross-border migrations which displace multiple species and where border-walls hinder their ability to adapt.
FC: At what landscape scale can your method have applications for climate change mitigation and biodiversity preservation?
CV: Scale is central to understanding the Anthropocene and the uneven global impacts for people and nonhuman species alike. Using dance, I traced cross-border flows and the impacts of security techniques on local communities. More importantly, dance works at the micro-scale. This
can refocus attention onto the lived experiences of the Anthropocene and provide rich knowledge into individual and collective practices and behaviours. I echo calls to think with scale.
Fragmentos. An original contemporary ballet choreography inspired by the movement of people across borders and the sacrifices made by immigrants to start a new life. Choreographed by Reniel Basil for El Paso Ballet Theatre. Executive Director Marta Katz.
© B.H. Giza 2017
FC: For me, the character types of HLC are calibrated according to the specific nature and history of the investigated landscapes, as well as on the expertise and questions of the compiler. Therefore, each HLC is unique and focuses on small areas, which are more uniform than large regions. This suggests that HLC could be more effective for climate change mitigation and biodiversity preservation if applied to address local location-specific issues.
CV: And this has implications for participation. To what extent can creative methods enrich and attract the participation of people for the achievement of climate and biodiversity goals?
FC: The definition of landscape character types is the result of an
analysis of the landscape, usually carried out by an expert. However, local stakeholders are increasingly engaged in this process, as they provide different expertise and points of view. Recent projects have also involved local communities to understand the value (individual or collective) of each landscape character type. This shows that HLC is an ideal platform to foster participation and develop new ideas for the landscape, including climate change mitigation and biodiversity protection.
Transformations of the historic landscapes in Anatolia. Traditional farmland and rangeland in the Göksu river valley (Mersin province, Turkey) are increasingly replaced by irrigated fruit tree plantations. Temporal trends and spatial patterns of this process have been highlighted using Historic Landscape Characterisation.
© F. Carer
CV: As COP26 approaches, enthusiasm is mounting for using arts to engage communities. Choreography facilitates discussion and debate with audiences on landscape injustices and offers alternative political-aesthetic frames to those envisaged by government and media. And while dance might remove barriers to engagement, demystify techno-scientific discourse, or offer up multi-sensual, affective knowledge (e.g. on climate change), translatable to the experience of ordinary people, we must remain cautious of downplaying the skills required to deliver genuine solutions to this emergency.
Dr Francesco Carer is a NUAcT Fellow at Newcastle University. He is a landscape archaeologist and his work combines field archaeological methods, historical ecology, ethnographic approaches and computer applications.
https://www.ncl.ac.uk/nuact/fellows/ profiles/francescocarer/
Dr Charlotte Veal holds a Fellowship in Landscape in the School of Architecture Planning and Landscape at Newcastle University. Charlotte sits on the International Advisory Board for Landscape Research, is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society with the IBG, and a member of the Landscape Research Group.
https://www.ncl.ac.uk/apl/people/ profile/charlotteveal.html
Social change or artistic discipline?
Anushka Athique
University of Greenwich
Charlotte Parsons
University of Greenwich
Gemma Hoult
University of Greenwich
Lenka Rajmont
University of Greenwich
Silas Basley
University of Greenwich
Lecturer Anushka Athique (AA) discusses teaching net zero with landscape architecture students Charlotte Parsons (CP), Gemma Hoult (GH), Lenka Rajmont (LR) and Silas Basley (SB).
AA: What will you need to tackle the climate emergency as future landscape practitioners?
LR: The thing I need the most is access. Access to books. Access to a workshop. Access to studios.
CP: This is so important, to encourage a more diverse student cohort with different life experiences who can design from those experiences.
Lenka Rajmont
BA2 – ‘Eat the Wood + Play the Wood’
GH: The whole programme could be even more interdisciplinary, learning from economics, engineering, climate science, because ultimately that is what should happen. You manage different teams and different skill sets, and different communities with different ideas and beliefs.
SB: I’ve been studying economics over the summer, and it’s opened my eyes to the possibilities of a multidisciplinary approach to education. Engagement from project managers, economists and engineers would encourage a collaborative approach. There should be an economics and ecology crossover.
AA: Both words have the same root meaning, from the Greek word ‘house’. So these studies are intimately connected.
SB: It’s all related. They are both similar in relation to understanding complex systems.
LR: All of the systems we talk about, from economics to statistics, are a Western ideological way of looking at things. We have to ask ourselves what comes after that.
AA: What if we were to turn that on its head and say economics needs to take a landscape approach?
GH: That’s where landscape is so exciting. With a very basic understanding of these systems, knowing how integral they are to each other, that is where landscape can really challenge the conversation on climate. We get to a point where we can say ‘Look at all these other ways of understanding’ and lead with design that way. For example, seed sovereignty. Seeds would have been shared hand to hand. They wouldn’t have been bought and sold. As landscape practitioners, we don’t often consider where seeds come from. We are driving injustice without realising it. Opening up the conversation of where we get our building blocks from is really important.
LR: Even in a non-metaphorical meaning, a physical tool or plant is the tool that we use to shape the surrounding areas. But the tool doesn’t just appear on its own.
AA: So, it’s about understanding the tools that we use in their entirety.
LR: And unlearning how we use these tools.
CP: To think of landscape as social change rather than an artistic discipline is really exciting, because it is a tool for social change, and we can make cities so much better.
GH: We can bring far more knowledge and usefulness into this conversation by really looking at materiality and saying what we’re not going to accept. If there’s enough of that conversation going on, working together, and sharing knowledge, we could be in a position to lead change in the industry.
LR: There is a massive disconnect, because the linear approach in building is not how any of this works. The climate is now not on a steady curve, and I think we can all understand that now. We are told that design is not linear. We learn to rethink, and reiterate our ideas, and this just doesn’t align in any way with the world that is outside of academia.
Meredith Will MLA
– Thames Rising
GH: But we need to push against existing frameworks and reshape how we think about ourselves, to look where the connections are, and how we can learn from them. Ultimately look for ways to deal with the climate crisis collaboratively, because we’re not going to get very far if we don’t learn from each other.
Lenka Rajmontova is BA (Hons) Landscape Architecture Student. Lenka is passionate about trees, exploring contemporary issues of landscape, and interdisciplinary working. Lenka recently taught on the University of Greenwich Summer School.
Charlotte Parsons. Prior to studying MA Landscape Architecture, Charlotte studied Horticulture and Fashion Design. She spent five years working as a designer in New York, which is where her interest in landscape was inspired.
Gemma Hoult is a second year MLA student. She comes to landscape from degrees in Anthropology, Migration and Development Economics; work in rail construction, and volunteering with local community groups.
Silas Basley is studying MSc Architecture, Landscape and Urbanism at the University of Greenwich. He is interested in integrating data, systems and analytics into his ecologically focused work.
Anushka Athique teaches Landscape and Urbanism at the University of Greenwich. She runs her own practice as a designer and researcher looking at the somatic experience of landscape.
Altan R. Dervish MLA2 – The Generators
