To mitigate the detrimental effects of climate change, there is an urgent need to revisit landscape design in urban spaces in Pakistan, especially by investing in natural systems and green infrastructure to create resilient urban spaces.

This goal can be achieved by creating urban forests, cleaning rivers and streams, developing open green spaces and corridors, constructing wetlands, promoting urban farming and protection, and the planting of mangrove forests.

To a common person, say a resident of Karachi or Lahore, these approaches may seem like big strategies and terminologies that are unattainable at the scale of daily living. But they are not so complicated, and often only involve conscious decision-making on small things.

In general, people understand that nature-based solutions have an impact on their perceived happiness and general health and can be good ‘passive design’ solutions. Passive design strategies rely on natural sources of energy, like making use of daylight rather than artificial light and greater reliance on passive sources of energy means lesser damage to the environment. For instance, if we reduce the usage of air conditioners, we are emitting lesser greenhouse gases, which may be better for the environment in the long run.

Climate change is upon us in all its viciousness. But urban spaces can be changed to better cope with the inevitable by conscious decision-making on an individual level and by utilising new concepts in landscape design

TIME FOR ACTION

The first step is to simply become aware of, realise and acknowledge the issue of climate change and its negative impacts. As a second step, we as individuals must educate ourselves on the ways nature-based solutions can be used in building elements.

The focus on the built form and its impact on overall climate change is supreme, because a large percentage of heat gain in urban areas is through the built form (roads, buildings etc). Hard surfaces such as buildings, roads and other infrastructure absorb heat during the day, which they then emit during the night, causing a general rise in temperatures.

If cities don’t have enough areas marked as green and natural landscaped areas, then the cities experience something called the ‘urban heat island’ effect, because the heat absorbed by these hard surfaces remains trapped in the urban surroundings.

Some other examples of nature-based solutions are green walls, which are passive design solutions contributing to buildings’ sustainability performance, green roofs, constructed wetlands (which is a green treatment technology that mimics natural wetlands used to treat various kinds of wastewater), vegetation infiltration and drainage basins — depressions designed to store water run-off on the surface and infiltrate it gradually into the ground and urban forests.

It is by becoming aware of these various strategies that we can advocate and fight to create a resilient city that is able to stand the onslaught of climate change for the collective.

Most of these strategies are yet to be adopted in Pakistani cities, but some steps are being taken to achieve these goals. For example, we see urban forests coming up in Karachi (Clifton and within various university campuses), with most of them being self-driven initiatives. Urban forests are empty plots of land, mostly publicly owned, which are converted into green cover by planting trees and shrubs on them. Many residents within Karachi are also opting for planting kitchen gardens, either in their lawns or in balconies or on roofs.

Design for the recycling of water can be made part of the built form, and water from air conditioners, from rainwater surface run-off, water used for watering plants and lawns, and water used in the kitchen and the toilets can be recycled. If by-laws and standards are outlined and implemented, huge amounts of water can be saved.

In terms of land use planning, chunks of land need to be allocated for wetlands and urban gardens in cities. Constructed wetlands (CWs) are a natural, low-cost, eco-technological, biological, wastewater treatment technology designed to mimic processes found in natural wetland ecosystems.

Constructed wetlands have a low carbon footprint, have low operational and maintenance costs, have a positive aesthetic impact on the environment, have low maintenance requirements and offer minimal visual impact while providing sustainable alternatives to mechanical-based wastewater treatments.

One such wetland, which helps recycle water, was constructed in Manora Island in 2017, but because its location falls within the jurisdiction of land owned by the Pakistan Navy, its accessibility and eventual outreach and impact remains limited.

DECISIONS, DECISIONS…

Besides these design strategies, which can be adopted on a city or a neighbourhood level in Pakistani cities, changes on an individual level can go a long way in building resilience in cities in the face of climate change.

For one, cutting down on processed food means lesser consumption of water, reduced industrial waste and lesser usage of energy.

Similarly, consuming lesser fuel, by switching to remote meetings, will assist our campaign to counter climate change. We can also think about cycling to work instead of driving every day, or taking the bus or carpooling. We can also take the staircase instead of using the elevator.

These decisions don’t only have a positive impact on our health, but on the wellbeing of the Earth too, and can slow down the negative impacts of technological development.

Recycling is another important way to create a sustainable lifestyle. Do I carry a cloth bag while going grocery shopping? Do I reuse the torn dress as a cleaning cloth in the house? Do I reuse the cardboard box? Do I recycle kitchen waste? Do I separate my daily waste between recyclables and non-recyclables? On face value, these may seem to be very minute decisions, but they contribute to the 16,500 tons of municipal waste produced daily in Karachi, a large amount of which ends up untreated in our natural waterways and riverbeds.

One can also be aware of one’s personal water footprint to reduce our daily usage of water and thus our climatic footprint on Earth. Decisions such as taking a shower versus a bath, hosing the car versus using a bucket to wash the car, the type of water faucets we have in our houses or at the workplace, the type of water-closets we decide to install and the amount of processed food we consume on a daily basis, all have an impact. The idea behind this and similar calculations is simple, to make one aware of the energy consumption we engage in on a daily basis, and to make one accountable for it.

The equation is simple, the more we rely on processed food, imported and branded items and artificial means of ventilation, the greater our energy consumption.

Many cities in China have taken up the challenge of climate resilience and are retrofitting their cities on the concept of a ‘sponge’. These are cities designed to retain rainwater through sustainable urban drainage systems, leased from green infrastructure. This intervention reduces the damage caused by flooding and inundation of urban areas, and stores rainwater for use in the future. Green infrastructure technologies involve elements that allow greater permeability in the soil for rainwater absorption, thus raising the water table.

Amongst these technologies, urban systems are of vital importance, namely drainage pavements, parks, infiltration, rain gardens, urban gardens, green roofs, green walls and retention wells. Many of these urban elements are as simple as digging a hole or a well to retain rainwater and are often not very costly or labour-intensive.

Furthermore, as responsible citizens, we can boycott investing in businesses which are set to negatively impact the natural environment. This would mean any industry which is polluting the environment, any real estate development which is located on natural landscapes or ecological assets and any business which exploits Mother Nature. If we take a small step towards this end and become aware of the long term impacts of our investment decisions, we can yield long-term positive impacts.

In conclusion, the lens of landscape design can serve as an important instrument to work towards resilient cities, by taking decisions both at the individual and city level.

The writer is an academic, architect and urban researcher based in Karachi.

Email: suneela_mail@yahoo.com

Published in Dawn, EOS, October 16th, 2022