CSLA Resource Library

The products and materials that landscape architects specify for their projects play a significant role in the overall global warming potential (GWP) of a project. They can also impact biodiversity, air and water quality. The guide outlines how environmental product declarations (EPDs) and other environmental reporting can be used to understand the environmental impacts of landscape materials and products and make decisions to reduce those impacts. It defines the standard types of environmental data that are applicable to landscape design and construction and helps landscape architects navigate product and material research. Landscape architects will learn about EPDs and other types of reporting and how they can inform decision making. Product manufacturers seeking to develop EPDs will gain new insights.   

Open Urban Forests – Establishing the First National View of Urban Forestry Geospatial Data in Canada is an innovative project established by the CIF-IFC, enabling access to urban forestry geospatial data across Canada and open access resources through the creation of an interactive learning hub. Data from this hub can be used to support decision-making and measure the continuous effects of climate change and other trends on urban forests across Canada.

The Environmental Finance Center received a grant from the ASLA Fund to develop this brief, which summarized findings from research literature, national and international reports, and 175 case studies. The brief finds that landscape architects increase economic value through their approach to planning and designing nature-based solutions. Their work on nature-based solutions creates economic benefits in five key areas: Improved Human Health and Livability; Expanded Investment and Sustainable Jobs; Increased Biodiversity; Going Beyond Net-Zero; Strengthened Resilience  

Pathfinder is a web-based application allows registered users to estimate the carbon footprint and time to carbon neutral for landscape projects based on site design and management. All you need to know about the metrics behind the tool, Pathfinder, how it works, further research needed, and how the Climate Positive Design Challenge was established.

Pathfinder is a web-based application allows registered users to estimate the carbon footprint and time to carbon neutral for landscape projects based on site design and management. This is your guide to: Understand how to meet the Climate Positive Design Challenge, Learn about related tools and suggested use, and Explore each step and feature in Pathfinder 3.0.

Landscape and Carbon is the LI and BALI’s report on carbon reduction in the UK landscape sector. It is one of only a handful of publications addressing the subject of carbon in landscape from the perspective of landscape professionals and businesses. Carbon assessment is a new area of working for the profession and is likely to be of increasing importance to those procuring, commissioning and designing landscape projects and works. This BALI and LI report calls for united action on carbon across the landscape sector. It provides eight key recommendations.

Pathfinder is a web-based application allows registered users to estimate the carbon footprint and time to carbon neutral for landscape projects based on site design and management. Learn how to improve carbon footprints while supporting resilience and equity from the Climate Positive Design Toolkit.

Communities worldwide were threatened by fire on an unprecedented scale this year. In this talk by expert Jonah Susskind, currently a senior researcher at SWA, increasingly urgent mitigation and protection issues will be examined, including critical feedback loops between urbanization and environmental risk in fire-prone landscapes, key disciplinary knowledge gaps among practitioners, and the introduction of applied strategies for community-scale wildfire resilience.

Case studies serve as educational tools, bolster advocacy efforts, and empower CSLA members to make the business case for adaptation measures to their clients and/or target audiences.  

Landscape architects impact public health through the stewardship of nature and the design of the built environment. We hold an exciting, yet challenging, opportunity to make a real difference in the health and well-being of the people in the communities in which we practice.

This CSLA's Guide to Land Acknowledgements is intended to offer baseline information to guide members and friends of the CSLA as they embark on developing a land acknowledgement. It is not to be viewed as a standardized checklist; rather, it provides the important considerations you will need to understand as you develop a meaningful land acknowledgement.

The guide is designed to help landscape architecture firms of all sizes navigate the transition to zero emission offices more easily. It outlines more than 110 strategies landscape architecture firms can implement to reduce their business and project greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 50-65% by 2030 and achieve zero emissions by 2040. The guide provides best practice strategies relevant for firms that rent or own their offices. It offers firms ways to: Measure their carbon footprint, Develop a climate action plan to reduce emissions, and Take actions to reduce Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions.