With climate change intensifying typhoons in the Philippines as if Mother nature is giving her final wake up call for all, it becomes vitally important for landscape architects to make smarter, sustainable and nature-centered design decisions that can help prevent us from causing worst irreversible damage to our planet.
First we need to determine what makes a design “good” for the environment. Design must not only be based on making an area look good. It should also have a healthy impact to nature and the people. It must not cause destruction or waste our precious and scarce natural resources. Good designs that are climate-positive aim to improve the standard of living of its inhabitants and protect the lands and waters on which all life depends.
According to distinguished environmental planner, landscape architect and author of the book “Design with Nature” Ian L. McHarg, “Our eyes do not divide us from the world but they unite us to it…we must become stewards of the biosphere and to do this we must design with nature.” As humans take part in designing the natural environment we must be mindful of its vulnerabilities and create solutions that can help give birth to its regeneration. By working with nature and not against it we will be able to find solutions to the environmental challenges around us. It is a careful balancing act between incorporating new creative designs and having a long-term environmental vision to conserve nature.
“Our eyes do not divide us from the world but they unite us to it…we must become stewards of the biosphere and to do this we must design with nature.”
Landscape architect and author, Ian McHarg
However, the destruction caused by our over-exploitation of nature for so many years has now become a huge threat to humanity. We have finally pushed her too far. As an effect of climate change, millions of Filipino homes located in shorelines and low-lying areas face the alarming possibility of being severely flooded due to rising ocean and sea levels. Sadly, our natural resources are also getting depleted due to ruinous human activities such as illegal mining, lumbering, and wildlife trade. The more humans consume, the bigger the impact on our natural surroundings. And as nation builders, we too in the landscape architecture industry must do away with mass consumerism through a more conscious selection of correct green building materials and proper land uses in cities and other outdoor spaces. There is no better time than the present for all of us in the design world, including urban planners, decision makers, and developers to put our heads together and figure out what each of us can creatively contribute to improve the places we live in. Now that members of our communities are also more awake to the effects of climate change, it is also the opportune time to ask our government to seriously intervene and take action for us to gain some form of nature sustainability.
The development of towns and cities focuses on economic growth. Urban designs make economic opportunities accessible to all through infrastructures, transportation, and everything else that makes life efficient and comfortable. Yet we must remember that as shapers of these communities we have the social responsibility to make sure that our designs do not affect nature in an unfavorable way. Trade and commerce cannot prosper in places where the people don’t. We must design with the protection of the people and the environment in mind. As one famed environmental Filipino song “Masdan Mo Ang Kapaligiran by the group Asin goes, “Bakit ‘di natin pagisipan ang nangyayari sa ating kapaligiran…Hindi na masama ang pag-unlad kung hindi nakakasira ng kalikasan.” (Why don’t we think about what is happening in our surroundings…Development is not bad if it does not harm the environment).
We are already seeing and feeling more and more the disastrous effects of climate change in our daily lives. The environmental approaches and responses we have today that promotes sustainable designs for our communities will be great opportunities to alleviate climate change and improve the people’s overall wellness and health. Over the years Mother nature has continuously cried out to us. Now we must finally listen and act daringly. There is time left and nature can still heal itself. There’s more we can do to make her smile once again.