Climate risks such as flooding, drought, and landslides increase in frequency and severity in Norway. This urgent situation requires adaptation by a complete rethinking of land use, lifestyles, and planning. In addition, it offers a new challenge for landscape architects.  

At different scales of decision-making, there is an awareness of a need for cross-sector and systemic thinking to encompass the full complexity of climate issues. But interdisciplinary remains a challenge in practice.   

Landscape contributes to local culture and is an essential component of cultural heritage, contributing to human well-being. Thus, perceptions of the value of landscapes and loss are to be considered in the context of climate action. Therefore, how to conduct a landscape project based on an integrated approach, combining cross-sector work and involvement?  

This research is part of the NATURACT research program led by five Norwegian research institutions. My practice-based research relies on a systemic design process to achieve a landscape-based guide plan for the Aurland valley in Norway, which should integrate the contributions of the different research disciplines as well as the views of the residents.  

I will focus on the issue of the design process: How to foster interdisciplinary endeavor and community involvement in a shared design process? How to make appropriable the complexity of climate risks?  

I wish to explore new methods and know-how, allowing for an interdisciplinary and bottom-up design process shared among the scientific field and practitioners. I will test system-oriented design methods in the field to build design tools for working with complexity.  

The research sees its contribution in including the profession of landscape architect in the significant subjects of adaptation and mitigation by exploring the landscape architect's abilities as a mediator in the frame of climate action.  

Janike Kampevold Larsen and Karin Helms supervise this research.