Representing Landscapes: Visualizing Climate Action

Notes on Contributors

Foreword by Carl A. Smith, FRSA

Acknowledgements

1. Introduction - Representing Climate Action: A Collection of Works

Nadia Amoroso

2. Visualizing Climate Action: A Conversation with SCAPE Studio

Nadia Amoroso, Nans Voron, and Gena Wirth

3. Imaging Change

Chris Reed with Nadia Amoroso

4. Communicating Complexity through Simplicity

Molly Bourne

5. Climate Action: The Works of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates

Laura Solano

6. Drawing Out Climate Action: The Role of Graphic Representation in Climate-Centered Landscape Architectural Practice  

Rebecca Popowsky and Siyu Du

7. Communicating Landscapes of Complexity with Chunks and Comics

Allyson Mendenhall

8. Function, Process, and Change: Designing Flood Infrastructure to Protect Calgary’s Vulnerable Communities

Matt Williams         

9. Landscape of Relations

Andreas Kipar and Valeria Pagliaro

10. Urban Forests: Landscape Designs Tailored to Dense Cityscapes  

Michel Desvigne

11. Reinventing the Coast through Design     

Miriam García

12. Image, Narrative, and Action            

Peter Veenstra

13. Realizing Happy Environments: Felixx's Visual Narratives of Change

Janine van den Dool, Michiel van Driessche, and Eduardo Marin Salinas

14. Climate-Adaptive and Nature-Sensitive Approach for Livable Cities

Marit Janse

15. Visualizing Climate Action in Africa – the Works of GREENinc

Stuart Glen

16. Climate Action through Landscape Architecture: A South African Perspective

Stefan du Toit and Carmen van den Einde

17. Modular Approach Creating Low-Maintenance Sponge City: Benjakitti Forest Park in Bangkok, Thailand

Kongjian Yu and Dong Wang

18. Landscape Frontiers: Designing within the New Geographies of the Climate Crisis

Billy Fleming

19. Landscape from Atmosphere to Below: Representation and the Climate Crisis

Rosalea Monacella and Craig Douglas

20. The Specters of a Changing Climate

Bradley Cantrell, with contributions by Leena Cho, Brian Davis, Matthew Seibert, Xun Liu, and Marantha Dawkins

21. A Self-Critique of Landscape Architecture in Climate Communication

Samantha Solano

22. Surge Barrier Impact Assessment Using Digital Twin Performance Analytics in Galveston Island, Texas

Galen Newman and Zhenhang Cai

23. Restoring for Resilience through Natural Channel Design

Jessica Canfield and Tim Keane

24. Spatial Imaginaries and the Humanization of Green Recovery

Carl A. Smith

25. Climate Stories: The Ongoing and the Unfinished

Roberto J. Rovira

26. Before the After: Representing Climate Actions in the Age of AI

Zihao Zhang and Shurui Zhang

27. Climate Action in Isometrics, Transects, and Atmospheres

Fadi Masoud

28. From Data Points to Dynamic Spatial Experience: Immersive Design Speculations for the Rail Corridor in Singapore

Pia Fricker

29. Visualizing Climate Action: Predictors of the Unpredictable

B. Cannon Ivers

30. Afterword

Nadia Amoroso

Bibliography

Biography

Nadia Amoroso, PhD, OALA, CSLA, is an Associate Professor in Landscape Architecture at the University of Guelph, School of Environmental Design and Rural Development. She holds a PhD from the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, London, and degrees in Landscape Architecture and Urban Design from the University of Toronto. She specializes in visual communication in landscape architecture, digital design, data visualization, and creative mapping. She also runs an illustration studio, under her name, focusing on landscape architectural visual communication. She has published a number of articles and books on topics relating to creative mapping, visual representation, and digital design.

“Climate Change is an existential threat to our Planet and the survival of the Human Species. Although the topic is top of mind, visual expressions solidify the need for more action from a broad audience. It is wonderful to have a book that provides illustrations to convey many ways the discipline and profession of Landscape Architecture addresses nature based design solutions towards reversing the effects of climate change.”

Kona Gray, FASLA, PLA, Principal of EDSA Inc, and 2025-26 President of ASLA

"Representation is an effective method for communicating complex issues, especially the profound challenge of Climate Change. Landscape architecture's role in visually conveying complicated concepts is pivotal for educating and creating action. It serves as a catalyst for the cultural shift required to address the global climate crisis facing everyone."

Damian Holmes, Founder and Editor of World Landscape Architecture