National Geographic

Designing Landscapesfor the AnthropoceneMaking places beautiful is not enoughfor Kate Orf. The landscape architectalso wants to make them adaptable toclimate change and its extreme efects.“Every square inch of the planet hasbeen impacted, intentionally or not, byhuman agency,” she says. “My goal is totranslate that into something positive.”Scape, her design studio, has part-nered with New York State (with federalfunding) to create what they’re calling“living breakwaters” along the southshore of Staten Island, which was pum-meled by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Thebreakwaters will do triple duty—pro-tect the coastline from future stormsand erosion, restore marine habitat inRaritan Bay, and provide places alongthe shore for residents to learn aboutthe ecosystem and to engage with it.Orf, who also directs Columbia Uni-versity’s new Center for Resilient Citiesand Landscapes, approaches landscapedesign from what she calls “a stanceof activism.” She wants the places shedesigns to “bridge nature and culture,sociology and ecosystems.” A proposedproject to restore Alameda Creek in theSan Francisco Bay Area exemplifiesthat goal: People would be invited tointeract with nature along the creek’sbanks, while the water’s improved flowwould bring sediment to the bay, pro-tecting the area from extreme flooding.Orff urges people to be activistdesigners in their communities. Inthese times of dramatic ecologicalchange, she says, it’s dangerous to“look passively upon the Earthas an aesthetic backdrop.”KATE ORFFBY RACHEL HARTIGAN SHEA PHOTOGRAPH BY BENEDICT EVANSEMBARKGENIUS