CSLA Resource Library

The goal of these guidelines is to make it easier for landscape architects to more effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions from project design and construction. Sections cover seven key design principles and 18 areas of specification. These guidelines are written for landscape architects and designers, specifiers, contractors, manufacturers, and leaders in our discipline and industry who want to cut emissions and increase carbon sequestration faster. They are thematic and condensed to provide a “CliffsNotes” overview of best practices.

Climate equity is an approach that applies an equity framework to how we experience, understand, and respond to climate change. It ensures the equitable distribution of climate protection efforts and reduces the unequal burdens created by climate change. The Practical Guide to Promoting Climate Equity in Coastal Climate Change Adaptation is a tool developed by the SHIFT Collaborative for Natural Resources Canada's Climate-Resilient Coastal Communities (CCRC) Program to support practitioners in developing more inclusive and equitable climate projects.  Craig, K., Klein, K. & Aixin, L. (2024). Practical guide to promoting climate equity in coastal climate change adaptation. 46.

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.

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.

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.  

Building on a year-long internal research project, Sasaki has developed the Carbon Conscience App, a free tool to help designers assess carbon impact from the early stages of planning. In urban design projects, many decisions that lead to high carbon emissions are made early in the planning process, and so that stage offers the greatest opportunities for impacting the ultimate outcomes. How can we measure embodied carbon of our designs from the earliest concept design phase?

Understanding the urgency of the climate crisis and the role landscape architects can play in developing and implementing solutions, LAF has compiled resources to help you inform, design, and advocate

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.

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.