CSLA Resource Library

Mini Forests, also known as Tiny Forests or Miyawaki Forests, are small-scale, densely planted, native forests consisting of trees, shrubs, and herbs. The key components of the method involve: 1) robust soil amendments, and 2) sixty centimetre on-centre tree and shrub planting of locally native, climax species.

This webinar will introduce key insights from the Landscape Carbon Benchmarking Study - commissioned by the City of Toronto and prepared by DTAH - which establishes benchmarks for the carbon intensity of private urban development landscapes. By analyzing ten representative development sites in Toronto, the study quantified upfront emissions and sequestration, identified the most carbon-intensive assemblies, and demonstrated how alternative design decisions can meaningfully shift outcomes. The findings establish a reference point for both practitioners and policymakers, creating a shared framework for carbon-conscious design.

This presentation explores how artificial intelligence is reshaping landscape architecture — accelerating design processes, expanding creative potential, and introducing new risks to mentorship, sustainability, and professional identity. Jeff Cutler, FCSLA, examines both the threats and opportunities AI presents, emphasizing how landscape architects can thrive by cultivating uniquely human skills like intuition, imagination, and critical insight. The session invites participants to explore AI thoughtfully, ensuring the profession evolves without losing its soul.

This presentation covers:

What are microaggressions vs macroaggressions
What is workplace conflict
How these feed conflict in the workplace
Intention vs Impact
Why/how/when to address microaggressions as the target, offender, or bystander

"The UNESCO World Heritage List includes 1248 properties forming part of the cultural and natural heritage which the World Heritage Committee considers as having outstanding universal value.
These include 972 cultural, 235 natural and 41 mixed properties in 170 States Parties. As of October 2024, 196 States Parties have ratified the World Heritage Convention."

In the face of Canada’s escalating climate and housing challenges, communities across Canada need easy access to trustworthy data and climate information. Climate Insight is an online platform designed to meet this need. It provides a centralized source for communities to find the tools and data they need to advance low carbon, climate-resilient housing and infrastructure initiatives in their communities. Climate Insight is designed to ease the burden of data collection and tool selection fatigue by sourcing and centralizing the tools and data that are the most relevant to practitioners advancing low carbon, climate resilient housing and infrastructure in their communities. Climate Insight is actively being developed and mobilized through a collaborative, consultative process over the course of five years (2023-2028). New features and functionality will continue to be added to ensure our mandate of supporting the needs of communities.

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) is a place of learning and dialogue where the truths of Residential School Survivors, families and communities are honoured and kept safe for future generations. The NCTR educates Canadians on the profound injustices inflicted on First Nations, Inuit and the Métis Nation by the forced removal of children to attend residential schools and the widespread abuse suffered in those schools.

The Cultural Landscape Foundation® (TCLF), established in 1998, connects people to places. TCLF educates and engages the public to make our shared landscape heritage more visible, identify its value, and empower its stewards. TCLF achieves this mission through the ongoing development of its four core programs.

This site is a map-based tool for exploring the diverse and effective pathways to conserve 30% of Canada's lands and waters and sharing the resources that will help us get there. This digital platform displays an interactive map showcasing protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) throughout Canada's diverse ecosystems. The map features currently available information on areas protected by governments, non-governmental organizations, Indigenous Peoples, local land trusts and others. The map also displays information on areas that are important to conservation and are actively contributing to biodiversity but have not yet been recognized or protected. 

Watershed Health and Resilience Indicators: Strengthening Indigenous Co-Governance and Low Carbon Resilience in Canada's Watersheds compares nine western and seven Indigenous-led watershed assessment frameworks to better understand indicators used to evaluate watershed health; it supports the advancement of more holistic and place-based understanding of health and resilience in Canada’s watersheds. The research illustrates how Indigenous Knowledge systems and co-governance arrangements can support timely place-based strategies for ensuring the resilience of the ecological, cultural, and societal benefits that flow from healthy and resilient watersheds to communities. 

Federal, Provincial and Territorial (F/P/T) governments recognize the contribution historic places make to our communities. Since 2001, the F/P/T governments have worked together through an initiative to jointly develop core programs. The Canadian Register of Historic Places (CRHP) provides a single source of information about all historic places recognized for their heritage value at the local, provincial, territorial and national levels throughout Canada.

This document offers a toolkit of urban planning and design strategies to support wellbeing for older adults, with an added focus on people living with dementia. This document considers the needs of both older adults and people living with dementia, with clear strategies and actions that can support wellbeing for people of diverse ages, abilities, and life experiences. The guidelines can help municipalities, developers, community-based services, and individuals make informed decisions and advocate for more age-friendly, dementia-inclusive communities. The actions focus specifically on the role of the built environment in supporting wellbeing at three scales: the neighbourhood, the street, and detailed design.