Journal of Digital Landscape Architecture

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Cyborg Landscapes: Realizing Climate Change Reversal and Self-Sufficiency Through Technologically Enhanced Landscapes

Climate change is well understood as an existential threat to the world. However, the problem is often considered so big that it presents a ‘wicked problem’ that is intractable, especially in the context of conventional landscape architecture practice of today. This paper aims to explore the potential of digital tools and new technologies to reframe the landscape as the organizational medium of climate change reversal. Specifically, it aims to show the combination of a set of design tools and climate change reversal technologies that combine with ecological strategies to facilitate the analysis, design, creation, and monitoring of a negative carbon emissions project. This has been tested through the delivery of a landscape strategy for a large net-zero project in Arabia. The design process led to a fragmentation of project teams into disciplinary and project silos, resulting in a situation where crosscutting tasks such as carbon monitoring and accounting fall into project ‘no man’s land’. The project is divided into an urban area with a small footprint and a ‘nature preservation’ area that covers most of the land. Through the lens of a landscape strategy and guidelines, the project explores the means, tools and platforms for the creation and monitoring of negative emissions enabled through the medium of landscape. Utilizing the notion of high-performing, ‘infrastructuralised’ (cyborg) landscapes the landscape is cast as critical infrastructure, enabled by a multi-tool design platform including GIS, parametric design methodologies, remote sensing, and natural capital accounting. In the project, this system was described as a closed loop ‘virtuous cycles’ concept enabled through parametric model developed to track the performance of the landscape.

Autor / Author: Velegrinis, Steven
Institution / Institution: Aecom Middle East, Dubai/United Arab Emirates
Seitenzahl / Pages: 13
Sprache / Language: Englisch
Veröffentlichung / Publication: JoDLA – Journal of Digital Landscape Architecture, 7-2022
Tagung / Conference: Digital Landscape Architecture 2022 – Hybrid Landscapes
Veranstaltungsort, -datum / Venue, Date: Harvard University, Cambridge Mass, USA 09-06-22 - 10-06-22
Schlüsselwörter (de):
Keywords (en): Cyborg landscapes, climate change reversal, negative carbon emissions, natural capital account, digital design methodologies
Paper review type: Full Paper Review
DOI: doi:10.14627/537724009
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