Environmental Architecture Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

This paper explores monsoons as a set of atmospheric-orographic dynamics productive of water
resources and as a site of actionable concern for landscape practice. From study to representation to
design, the term “landscape practice” is used to describe a way of positioning environments as both
subject and object of concern. While monsoons are constituents of many geographies, dynamics,
materials and experiences, this paper focuses on the South Asian monsoon and its relationship with
the Tibetan Plateau. In this region, freshwater resources are dependent on the monsoon; however, as
rising global temperatures and rapid urban development significantly impact the behavior of the
monsoon and the Plateau’s ability to store freshwater, the monsoon—as a kinetic body of freshwater—
becomes the focal point of visual media productions and extractive technologies that
require a shifting of perspective from one that privileges land to one that centers the atmosphere.
The inclusion of meteorological and atmospheric material and dynamics within the space of
landscape practice, constructively challenges the spatial discipline’s engagement with exploitable
resources; and the monsoon provides a tangible site and set of conditions that is in urgent need of
this exploration.

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- Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Environmental Design, Monsoon

Urgent and far-reaching steps are necessary to reorient global economies to address the global environmental and climate emergency. Both IPCC and Paris Agreements commit industrialised nations to drastic reductions of their CO2 emissions so as to keep the rise in global average temperature to well below 1.5 °C. At the same time we know that the environmental emergency is not simply a matter of CO2 emissions, but of feedback loops between multiple metabolic rifts. The challenge is one that requires systematic transformations in planning for sustainable and just modes of coexistence across the planet, in such a way that is globally equitable, while able to both mitigate the impacts of climate breakdown, as well as creating reliable and dependable plans for the future.

- by Jon Goodbun and +1
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- Lithium, Green New Deal, Land Use, Environmental Architecture