Martha Schwartz

Martha Schwartz Partners, USA

Title: Climate Change And The Roles Of The Urban Landscape

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Biography

Martha Schwartz is a landscape architect, urbanist, and climate activist, with a deep commitment to addressing climate change through her work. As a founding member of the Landscape Architecture Foundation's (LAF) "Working Group on Climate Change," she has been at the forefront of integrating climate solutions into urban landscapes. Her expertise spans a diverse range of projects, from site-specific art installations to strategic planning collaborations with cities, all aimed at creating "Climate Ready" urban environments. Schwartz is also a tenured Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, where she imparts her knowledge and passion for transforming urban public spaces to foster climate resilience.

Abstract

Climate Change will have severe impacts on most cities, many which we are not aware of yet. Most people are already living in cities. 70% of the world’s population will be living in Cities by 2030.  Therefore it’s extremely important to understand what cities will be facing in the near future, as we are not going to stop pumping oil, creating even more emissions, the Earth will continue to heat up, creating dangerous impacts on Humans. Landscape Architects work with nature, and all the land outside the buildings which is the largest, underutilized area within the city but can be the solution to “EXTREME HEAT, and Floods, only IF our cities have enough land to green their cities. We will need our city Decision-Makers to understand the climate impacts on their cities.  Right now, we must begin to Re-Plan to Re-Organize our cities, and work with Nature, so we can live in Livable cities in the future. But within our cities, there will be many other benefits and necessities we will need, as we depend on nature which we’ve destroyed, and is imperative for our future and our lives. While we will all have All Hands on Deck, Landscape Architecture is the only profession based on ecology and designs and builds with nature.  It has become one of the most important professions which works to  ADAPT, creates RESILIENCY, and MITIGATES naturally by taking down emissions of Carbon dioxide, and helps to regenerate nature. For a long time, our profession has been “at the back end of the Built Environment”, but is now NEEDED for bigger and more  important reasons. We are stepping up to being one of the most important PROFESSIONS which can work to mitigate the impacts of climate change, heal nature, and to protect and help cities to survive.