09/24/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/24/2024 13:25
ASLA has released the results of its first national survey on landscape architects' planning and design work focused on biodiversity. Nearly 300 landscape architects, designers, and landscape architecture educators in the U.S. responded to the survey in July 2024.
The survey found that 96 percent of landscape architects are familiar with the impacts of the biodiversity crisis. 45 percent have made biodiversity conservation a top priority of their practice and another 41 percent consider biodiversity as part of their organization's environmental ethos.
Landscape architects also identified a number of barriers limiting their ability to increase biodiversity. Top challenges include:
"This survey shows that a growing share of landscape architects are taking action on global biodiversity loss," said ASLA CEO Torey Carter-Conneen. "A majority of landscape architects are now designing nature-based solutions and incorporating native trees and plants with the goal of restoring ecosystems."
According to the survey, many landscape architects are leveraging projects to increase biodiversity and restore ecosystems. The five most common types of projects they plan and design to achieve biodiversity goals are:
The survey also found that landscape architects use a range of planning and design strategies to increase biodiversity, regardless of project type. The survey found the top five strategies are:
A minority of landscape architects are setting specific biodiversity net gain (BNG) targets in their projects. For example, a landscape architect can design a site to achieve a 10 percent net gain in biodiversity in comparison to existing conditions.
The survey found:
See the full results of the survey
Upcoming: