Land stewardship in the climate wrung epoch

Abstract

QUESTION: How can vulnerable land be turned into adaptive land that is ‘safe’ for communities?

This paper discusses a student research by design project, undertaken as the culmination of a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree. The project used theories and principles from resilience thinking as a lens of inquiry, and guidelines for redefining vulnerable coastal land in Onehunga industrial zones undergoing urban development. Asking the question How can vulnerable land be turned into adaptive land that is ‘safe’ for communities? The project explores ways to prototype and test resilience ideas that re-examine and redefine everyday lives, challenge the status quo, and integrate living, working, playing and land stewarding. Key design moves were based on the understanding of complex adaptive social-ecological systems, from individual community members to society as a whole, are embedded in the biosphere and dependent on its life-supporting capacity. By hypothetically testing an alternative way of living, and through a shared process of learning, a new land-use agenda that incubates everyday forms of resilience would emerge, and a downshift mindset promoted by acquired skills would transcend the economic growth driven paradigm that is no longer adaptive and appropriate for the climate change wrung epoch: the Anthropocene.

The design project focus is on the coastal industrial land between Onehunga Mall and Captain Spring Road.