Educating future landscape professionals about climate change and climate-wise design: current status, priorities, and information needs

ABSTRACT

While climate change is increasingly being viewed as one of the most critical issues affecting the landscape design and horticultural industries today, research indicates that many current professionals feel unprepared to address climate change issues in their practice. This paper summarises a survey of faculty and students in post-secondary horticulture and landscape architecture/design programmes within the United States about existing practices of educating students (future professionals) about climate change, as well as perceived priority topics and information needs. Results identify areas where additional instructional resources may be needed, as well as climate-related topics receiving more emphasis than others. The study also identifies differences in student and faculty perceptions about the extent and importance of instruction in specific areas. Finally, this paper raises a number of unresolved questions regarding the underlying reasons for some topics receiving greater emphasis, and the potential implications from lack of emphasis on others.

KEYWORDS:

• Pedagogy
• climate change
• climate-wise design

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the California Landscape Architectural Student Scholarship Fund (CLASS Fund) under grant number AGR DTD 12-11-18.

Notes on contributors

Michael Volk

Michael Volk is a Research Assistant Professor in the University of Florida Center for Landscape Conservation Planning, Department of Landscape Architecture. He has a Master’s Degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Florida and a degree in Architecture from the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. Michael’s work with the Center for Landscape Conservation Planning (http://conservation.dcp.ufl.edu/) includes applied research with conservation partners throughout Florida on land use, regional conservation planning, and urban green infrastructure; the impacts of sea level rise on natural resources and coastal communities; and climate change adaptation strategies and information needs for landscape architecture students and professionals (https://dcp.ufl.edu/landscapechange/). Michael is also a partner with Florida Resilient Cities (https://dcp.ufl.edu/frc/), an initiative which works with communities across Florida to be more prepared for and resilient to increased risk and future changes.

Belinda B. Nettles

Belinda B. Nettles, Ph.D., is a Research Affiliate with the University of Florida’s Center for Landscape Conservation Planning. Belinda completed a Master of Landscape Architecture and a Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Florida. Her research focuses on conservation planning, community resilience, and climate-wise design.

Gail Hansen

Gail Hansen earned her PhD and Master’s in Landscape Architecture at the University of Florida, where she is currently an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Horticulture. She is also the UF IFAS extension specialist in Landscape Design, a faculty member in the Center for Land Use Efficiency (CLUE), a faculty advisor for the Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ Program, and chair of the UF Lakes, Vegetation and Landscaping Committee (LVLC). In addition to her degrees in landscape architecture she has a certification in Healthcare Garden Design from the Chicago Botanic Garden. Dr Hansen teaches two landscape design courses on sustainable urban landscapes that take into account the social dimension of green urban environments, urban ecology, and the quality of life for urban dwellers.