Newsletter
September 2021

Symbiosis of Climate & Green Infrastructure Solutions:
The Power of Nature-Based Design

We hope you are faring well with the rise of the Delta variant and increase in climate-related emergencies worldwide. The recent heatwaves, wildfires, and catastrophic flooding events underline the urgency of altering our behaviors now to bring our Earth into balance.

A great report not to be missed is the recent Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Cities: the Power of Nature-based Solutions produced by UNEP in close collaboration with the Italian Presidency of the G20. And a ton of excellent Events are highlighting these issues creating a symbiosis of climate and green infrastructure solutions. To name just a few, next week kicks off Climate Week NYC 2021; a webcast from The Water Research Foundation: Economic Framework and Tools for Quantifying and Monetizing the Triple Bottom Line Benefits of Green Stormwater Infrastructure with utility case studies from Seattle, Philadelphia, and New York City; and the online symposium The Climate-Resilient, Green, Nature-inclusive City from the Biotope City Foundation Amsterdam together with the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences Vienna.

Over at Fast Company, five landscape architects chime in on how to protect cities from disastrous flooding with resilient strategies, both green and gray. Increasing stormwater capacity includes a mix of hard and soft infrastructure; rather than pushing water back, ecosystems like living shorelines, sponge parks, and more greenroofs will create much needed permeable, and cooler, surfaces. All agree upon a dual approach: reducing impervious surfaces and increasing absorptive landscapes.

The reality is we need to vastly cool down our warming planet to effect climatic change on a grand scale and designing with living architecture and nature-based solutions is key.