Urban landscapes and climate change: the contribution of Landscape Architects to improve the quality of life

The report, which is concerned with the practice of Landscape Architecture to improve the quality of life in cities, outlines the context of climate change in terms of the science, the politics and aspirations, both in Europe and globally. It discusses how cities are changing, how their resident populations are at risk, and how Covid-19 has further complicated the situation, perhaps advancing even more urgently the need for action. It notes two major studies commissioned by the European Union, undertaken by the European Environment Agency and the Eklipse Working Group, both of which directly relate the quality of city life to landscape and the environment. Seven subject areas are examined which demonstrate the range of science, design, planning, implementation and management of landscapes in the cities of several European States. 

All the evidence shows that the relationship between landscape and people is fundamentally important to the quality of life. This report has noted that an improved quality of life is also closely related to better health and welfare and, as such, leads to higher productivity, lower social security and health care costs, and improved economics. Healthier people are generally more content, work harder, are more sociable and less liable to criminality. Studies also show that property values are higher in areas where landscape is prominent and they improve markedly in areas which are subject to regeneration programmes where landscape investment figures significantly.