The Humanitarian Landscape Architect's Toolkit: Outcome of the 4 Elements Workshops Series

Like yourself, we were drawn to establishing HLC through a need to find a better way to use landscape architecture for the world’s most vulnerable populations - rebalancing the scales so it benefits 100% of society (rather than the wealthiest 1%).

One of our aims has been to build knowledge on the topic, for which we focussed on researching the value of landscape architecture in disaster-resilience over a series of interdisciplinary workshops. We’re now ready to share our initial findings from this research, the objective of which was refined over time to answer the question of:

How can the design tools of landscape architects support nature-based solutions in humanitarian contexts?

4 Elements Workshops

The workshops took place online and in-person between 2019 and 2023, each themed around the 4 elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water to explore the role of landscape architecture in disaster-resilience work in relation to each element. Follow the below links for a summary & outcomes of each workshop:

Earth: Landscapes in Crisis

Air: The Air We Breathe

Fire: Fire x Landscape

Water: Building Water Resilient Cities

Looking at them collectively, we were able to identify thematic similarities…

1. All four workshops emphasised the interdisciplinary collaboration required to bridge environmental, political, and social needs in the complex settings of humanitarian aid - conversations which landscape architects are well placed to coordinate and manage.

2. The workshops, our background research and conversations demonstrated the appropriateness of nature-based solutions (n-bs) for resilience and adaptation in disaster contexts. Such as the adaptation of the coast line protection which has been implemented along the northeastern coast of Japan following the devastating 2011 tsunami. 

3. The importance of engaging all affected stakeholders was touched upon in several of the case studies presented as part of these workshops. It was clear from the research that projects which involved stakeholders had a higher success rate than when the proposal was imposed upon them. Not only did they involve locals and the intended communities, but developed a political, cultural and social understanding of the livelihoods involved. Alongside this developing good relationships with all involved at a variety of scales, and stages has had a positive effect on initiatives such as The Lemon Tree Project. 

4. In several of the workshops it was noted how n-bs has its own limitations and shouldn’t be solely relied upon to fix all aspects of an issue. Integration and adaptation of existing humanitarian practices alongside nature based solutions seems to be a proactive way to move forward. 

Building Water Resilient Cities Workshop, 2019

What does this mean for landscape architects?

These thematic similarities may be enlightening for some and familiar to others, but we wanted to go further and know what the specific tools of the landscape architect are in humanitarian contexts (referring back to our original question). So we dug into our findings a little further and uncovered the following:

1. We can provide holistic spatial solutions to multiple social & ecological challenges, allowing them to support broader measures to alleviate sociopolitical & economic marginalisation. If we are to engage with stakeholders to make this happen, then we’re required to understand the overlap between livelihoods & culture with n-bs. This is important as our aim is to reduce vulnerability, the causes of which are often systemic and not solvable through a simple built intervention - therefore they must be used alongside sociopolitical interventions. Even within the physical intervention, consideration also needs to be given to inclusive design & cultural sensitivity (as with any project) to facilitate equitable access to its benefits. This engagement needs to be managed carefully, with the purpose of every initiative made very clear.
   

2. We can open lines of dialogue between various groups. It puts us in a position to facilitate relationship building where one might not have existed previously, calling into question our psychological/emotional capacity to navigate these conversations and work with traumatised/vulnerable communities, especially those who may lack the experience in these contexts. Alongside social groups or communities, opening lines of dialogue between various disciplines is a key component of n-bs which landscape architects are well-trained & experienced in. Suggests that they may be suited to manage these conversations - if common terms can be established to translate between the various sectors & professions.
   

3. We can embed nature-based solutions into the planning of settlements to bring about their benefits. 

   But they can be limited by a lack of land rights & tenure security for informal & displacement settlements, which often limits the scope for planting and other nature-based solutions can be perceived as enforcing a permanence. These humanitarian settlements are often unplanned and grow sporadically, which provides little opportunity for intervention from outside parties or policymakers. This could present an opportunity for landscape architects to be engaged with informing planning policy & design guidance, folding in ethics of care when it’s well understood.

These all suggest that our value, as landscape architects, is in the social intervention, rather than physical. As demonstrated by many case studies (refer to our Knowledge Hub), we can be best placed as capacity builders, workshop facilitators, policy writers (and more) to support the locally-driven creation of a space.

What’s next?

These outcomes are just the beginning of our work, to take them further we want to:

1. Better understand the common terms and co-benefits between landscape architects and the development & humanitarian sectors, helping us to better work together.

2. Develop a more specific set of tools for a specific context.

3. Then begin facilitating work for landscape architects in humanitarian contexts, building on the partnerships created in our years of research.

We need your support along the way - if you are a landscape architect, share our findings and invite us to your practice to share our mission and work. If you work in the humanitarian or development sectors and are experienced in delivering nature-based solutions, then let’s connect and discuss how we could refine our findings further. And if you’re a community based organisation and think that landscape architects could support you in some way, then get in touch!