Let’s break it up - looking back to 2023

As we step into the unfolding chapters of 2024, it's my pleasure to invite you on a journey through the evolving landscape of our profession. Join me in exploring how our shared commitment to transformative action can pave the way for greener, more resilient urban environments, looking forward to nature-positive cities.

Let's break with traditions, be radical, and break new ground together.

Amid the challenges of the climate crisis, this newsletter aims to shed light on innovative strategies and approaches to enhance urban resilience. Our focus on breaking conventional notions echoes the call to depave our streets, creating more permeable, sustainable cities. Let's break it up. This is exactly the claim we promoted this year, alongside the productive urban landscapes.

With our constantly growing team of more than 150 professionals, we learned that landscape is a canvas of socio-environmental relations and shows us the way to radical change under the banner of Nature, becoming a place that can also express the ethical need for 'circular production' through new aesthetic models. Of course, in LAND , with our internal Research Lab, we have developed the tools to make the ecosystemic services of Nature measurable. One of them is Landscape Information Modelling (LIM®), based on the well-known BIM system, allowing us to forecast, e.g. the CO-sequestration of our design during the years when the trees grow. If we consider Nature as an asset, we are talking about NCA (Nature Capital Accounting); the attitude of stakeholders changes drastically, opening up significant investments regarding the renaturation of our cities. Trees are not just green additions; they are architects of change, altering microclimates and enhancing the overall livability of our urban fabric.

Our perspective at LAND is no longer solely determined by past experiences of physical and tangible transformation (i.e., environmental regeneration); LAND is gaining a new awareness. As the German philosopher Hans Jonas said, 'we are nature', and any attempt to move away from it today is unthinkable. We must consider the possibility of offering a dignified life to future generations. We have entered the age of cultivation, in which it is essential to establish a network of relationships that, with the right inputs, can ensure benefits for all citizens of the world.

Let’s break it up is a powerful call to action. To drive meaningful change, we advocate for a radical shift, forging ahead through the dynamics of Nature. Embracing fragmentation in green planning is key, involving our communities every step of the way. Today, landscape architects wear multiple hats – from social moderators in participatory processes to artists – and the city embraces their sustainable creativity.

It all began in September 2021 with an installation of sixteen oak trees planted opposite the entrance to the Triennale at the start of Milan Design Week as part of a project for NHOOD , intended to transform Piazzale Loreto on the northern edge of central Milan, LOC, Loreto Open Community. Here, we will experience a new connection with the urban soil, creating a green anchor to attract users and transforming a traffic hub into a biodiversity habitat.

Some weeks ago, with the brave Mayor Andrea Corsaro, we broke up the asphalt in Comune di Vercelli , a cosy town in Piedmont with ca. 46K inhabitants, representing a model for its urban and territorial regeneration plan. For humans to breathe, we must allow the soil to breathe. This is why we break up the sealed surfaces, jackhammers in our hands: we are giving more space to the citizens of Vercelli so that they can have a 'linear garden': an avenue one kilometre long and over seven meters wide, a 'colourful living room' that can be enjoyed by all and which will have Nature at its centre.

Parco Portello in Milan, which we have been working on for over 20 years with Charles Jencks, received the 2nd prize at the prestigious European Garden Award in the "Design or concept of a contemporary park or garden" category in the summer. The park, part of the urban regeneration of the former Alfa Romeo factory, was praised for reconnecting people with Nature — a colourful green environment in which to wonder and understand the importance of land art and urban design.

The Portello Park is also part of Comune di Milano 's broader Green Rays strategy, connecting existing green spaces of the city through soft mobility. This urban transformation process has been underway for two decades, inspired by a dynamic and innovative landscape vision. These are the ingredients of our '20 Years of Green Rays' Exhibition to be visited in our Wunderkammer in Milan via Varese 12, a few steps away from our Italian headquarters.

In November, I joined the task force launched by the World Economic Forum 's Centre for Nature and Climate and Centre for Urban Transformation for Nature-Positive Cities. Together with other world-wide esteemed colleagues, we look into pivotal environmental challenges to recalibrate cities' relationship with Nature. As shown, nature-based solutions have become fundamental to giving a green footprint in every town of the world and contrasting climate change. Nature is an asset, and managing natural capital must be more and more part of urban planning.

With this last sentence in our minds, I wish you all the best for a peaceful Christmas time. Please feel free to ask questions I'm happy to answer.

What's next? Another newsletter with the outlook into 2024.