Kate Orff emphasizes rewilding and oysters as innovative methods for restoring ecological infrastructure.
Regenerative design and holistic approaches are essential for countering landscape degradation and empowering communities.
Deep dives
The Recognition of the Transformed Physical Landscape
Kate Orf highlights the profound human impact on natural systems, emphasizing that nature is now a matter of design due to widespread alterations to the environment by humans. She stresses the need for active stewardship and restoration of ecological systems to counter the imperilment of vital natural resources like forests, reefs, and soil.
Embracing Regenerative Design for Sustainable Landscapes
Kate advocates for regenerative design as an alternative to traditional landscape approaches, emphasizing holistic solutions that involve people, flora, fauna, and human systems. She contrasts regenerative design with past practices that led to landscape degradation, emphasizing empowerment, clean energy, and community engagement as integral components of regenerative design.
Redefining Infrastructure for a Sustainable Future
Kate challenges traditional views of infrastructure, advocating for a shift towards natural systems as a form of infrastructure. She critiques past methods like concrete sea walls and levees, promoting a holistic approach that integrates natural processes, community needs, and social equity into infrastructure projects.
Innovative Approaches to Climate Action and Resilience
Kate discusses the need for cross-sectoral initiatives to accelerate climate action, focusing on identifying regional initiatives and addressing barriers to implementation. She underscores the importance of innovative tools and collaborative efforts to navigate complex policy challenges, emphasizing the urgency of adapting to climate change and enhancing resilience.
Kate Orff, founding principal of the landscape architecture and urban design studio Scape, discusses rewilding as one tool among many for restoring ecological infrastructure, oysters as engineering assistants in preventing coastal flooding, and other out-of-the-box solutions local and federal authorities should be considering before the next hurricane hits.
