Global warming is influenced by the way humans plan, design and manage their cities and landscapes. 

Climate-unfriendly practices are the norm. But climate-friendly landscape planning policies can and should be developed and adopted. Urban designers and rural planners need to revise their design principles with regard to climate mitigation and climate adaptation.  NASA explains that: 'Responding to climate change involves two possible approaches: reducing and stabilizing the levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (“mitigation”) and/or adapting to the climate change already in the pipeline (“adaptation”)'. 

At present, there is an imbalance between the necessary research  on why  our climate is changing and the equally necessary research on how we can measures to mitigate the problem. Tom Turner therefore discuses the ways in which multi-objective landscape planning can mitigate global warming, with examples from his experience of Upland Britain, London, Egypt and Ladakh (in the Indian Himalayas).  There is a  transcript of the text, with further discussion and links to videos and other information on the LAA Landscapearchitecture.org.uk blog.

Climate-friendly landscape planning includes policies for agriculture, forestry, water, transport, architecture, landscape architecture and urban design. There are immediate opportunities with regard to rewilding, green living roofs and green living walls, urban green belts, flood management, soil management, cycleway networks and other sustainable transport modes. 

Scientists explain climate change. Landscape architects develop policies to deal with the problems, be their causes human or non-human.