The Climate Crisis, The Herd, and the Landscape Architect’s Role as a Saviour
In the shadow of the the many crises—our era’s ticking time bombs—one question looms large: Are we totally f**ed? To answer this, we must first confront the absurdity of the question itself. What is really being asked is not about the planet or its future. The question instead reveals a deeper existential anxiety: What are we, as humanity, even doing?
Yet, there is one discipline that may offer not a solution, but a way of thinking that leads us beyond despair: landscape architecture. In a world riddled with crises, fragmented thinking, and disconnection, landscape architecture—with its holistic approach and ability to weave connections—may hold the key to reshaping how we see and respond to the world.
The Herd and the Crisis
When faced with crisis, we act like a herd in a stampede. Take the global climate summits: everyone agrees “something must be done,” but this agreement serves as the ultimate excuse for doing nothing substantial. The herd isn’t paralysed because it lacks direction—it is paralysed because it has too many directions, each one leading to its own cul-de-sac of feel-good activism. Recycling, electric cars, greenwashing—all are ways to stay on the treadmill of consumption while soothing our collective guilt.
But here is where landscape architecture steps in. Where the herd stumbles, landscape architects think differently. They focus not just on piecemeal fixes, but on systemic, meaningful connections. Landscape architects see the cracks in our system as opportunities—spaces where ecology, humanity, and culture can converge. Rather than masking problems, they build frameworks that allow both nature and society to evolve together.
What if the crisis, then, is not just about CO₂ levels or melting ice caps? What if the crisis is humanity’s inability to reconnect—with the land, with each other, and with our place in the wider ecological web?
The Absurdity of Rethinking
Now, let’s add Camus to the mix. The absurd is not just the collapse of our ecosystems; it is our refusal to comprehend what the collapse reveals about us. Climate change is not the crisis—it is a symptom. A symptom of capitalism’s absurd demand for infinite growth on a finite planet. A symptom of modernity’s inability to think beyond linear narratives of progress. A symptom of our species’ pathological insistence on denying its own fragility.
Rethinking the crisis doesn’t mean simply finding “green solutions” within the existing paradigm. It means questioning the paradigm itself. Why do we act as though the Earth is a problem to be solved, a puzzle to fix? Landscape architecture, in its essence, rejects this binary thinking. It acknowledges that humans are not separate from the natural world but are a part of it. The discipline offers a way to work with the land rather than dominate it, to design for coexistence rather than control.
The Landscape Architect’s Role
Here lies the discipline’s power: landscape architecture transcends the herd mentality. It is not paralysed by the absurd because it embraces complexity, seeing interconnections where others see fragmentation. Landscape architects think in ecosystems, not silos. They design to integrate people with nature, culture with sustainability, and systems with places.
Why is this approach so vital? Because the problems we face—climate collapse, social inequity, urban sprawl—are not isolated. They are the result of disconnection. The herd believes in easy fixes: more technology, stricter regulations, greener consumerism. But none of these address the root cause: our alienation from the systems that sustain us. Landscape architects, with their focus on holistic design and connectivity, offer a way to rebuild these relationships.
Think of an urban park designed to manage stormwater while providing habitat for wildlife and a space for community gatherings. Or a coastal restoration project that blends ecological resilience with opportunities for cultural engagement. These are not just “solutions”; they are acts of reconnection. They show us how to live within limits while finding meaning and beauty in doing so.
What Is to Be Done?
To paraphrase Žižek, the first step is to stop fooling ourselves. Yes, the climate crisis is real, but the real catastrophe would be to “solve” it without rethinking the absurdity of our situation. Solving the crisis while leaving capitalism and consumerism intact is like rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic. The deeper question we must ask is not, How do we save the planet? but How do we reconnect with it?
Landscape architecture points us toward an answer. It refuses to view the Earth as a problem to solve, instead embracing its fragility and potential. It offers not just solutions but a philosophy—a way of thinking and designing that invites us to work with the systems we have, rather than trying to impose control over them.
Embracing the Crack
Perhaps the way forward is not to patch the cracks but to inhabit them. Landscape architects understand this intuitively. The cracks in our system—failed summits, greenwashing, climate refugees—are not flaws to fix; they are spaces to reimagine. They show us that the planet doesn’t need saving—we do. To live authentically in this moment of crisis means rejecting the herd’s passive nihilism and taking responsibility for the absurdity of our existence.
Are we totally Fu**kd? Probably. But maybe the ultimate freedom lies in realising that being f**cked is not the end—it is the beginning of something new. Landscape architecture, with its capacity to connect the disconnected, to embrace complexity, and to think holistically, may just be the discipline to guide us toward that new beginning.