Designing places for a changing planet

A place built today will still be here in fifty years. What world will it be standing in? Our latest Design Horizons report explores how to design places that adapt as the planet evolves.

Heatwaves. Flooding. Species loss. The past decade is a glimpse of what may come as climate, and shocks that once seemed theoretical are now felt with growing frequency.

The standard response when it comes to the built environment is resilience: build places that can take the hit. But withstanding climate shocks is only the start. A place also needs to change with the world, work with the living systems around it, and stay loved by its community long after opening day.

That’s the thinking behind our latest Design Horizons foresight report, Designing Places for a Changing Planet. Grounded in our regenerative approach to design, the report reveals what going beyond resilience looks like, and what we can do today to make places that flourish rather than just survive.

Inside, you’ll find three principles for creating places that are built to last:

Evolution: No design is ever complete. Modular construction and designing for deconstruction are just two ways to ensure a place can adapt to evolving needs.
Systems: Design doesn’t create systems. It joins them. Every new place takes from the ecological, social and economic networks around it, so the question is what it gives back.
Resilience: A place must withstand more than extreme weather. Test every decision against climate, ecology and community.

We put the principles to work in three scenarios: an office tower that outlives the office, a park designed for the next generation of gardeners, and a coastal city learning to live with rising sea levels.

The report finishes with six actions for your next project. The earlier these ideas enter a brief, the more they shape the outcome. By the time a building is under construction, or a park is being planted, most of the decisions that matter have already been made.

Download the Design Horizons foresight report below.

Design Horizons: Designing places for a changing planet Pdf, 4.73MB

Research

The Cancer Centre as the Caregiver

Design has a powerful role to play when it comes to influencing the quality of life for those living with a serious illness.

News

Green Light: Sunshine Coast Ecological Park Master Plan

From pastoral land to rainforest sanctuary, our master plan for Sunshine Coast Ecological Park creates a refuge for wildlife and the community. According to Hassell Principal Daniel Kallis, “it will be a place that establishes a genuine balance of human recreation and ecological restoration.” Read the full article and watch the Council’s video.

Research

Design Horizons

Design Horizons, a new foresight platform by Hassell, uncovers macro sustainability trends that we believe will influence the design industry and broader built environment in the years ahead — and what we must do to prepare.

Insight

Designing for Manufacture and Assembly: a new way to build for better communities

Australia’s housing crisis demands faster, more affordable, and higher quality ways to build. Cue the radical precision of Designing for Manufacture and Assembly.

Conversation

Building smarter: a new lens on modular design in Australia

Practical, sustainable, efficient, and big on benefits — there’s a lot to love about modular design.

项目

Colma Creek, South San Francisco

Colma Creek Connector brings the community and experts together to imagine – and create – a brighter future for an urban waterway in South San Francisco, using storytelling to engage future custodians.

项目

Darling Harbour Sydney Public Realm

The challenge was to reinvent one of Australia’s most visited public places – the Darling Harbour precinct in central Sydney.

Insight

Designing for circularity: Staying ahead of the next resource crisis

With global construction driving nearly 40% of global carbon emissions, Hassell is radically rethinking the design process to prioritise the entire lifecycle of materials.

项目

Melbourne Arts Precinct Transformation: Laak Boorndap Urban Garden

Laak Boorndap, an immersive landscape planted entirely on an elevated deck will help to reshape Australia’s Melbourne Arts Precinct with one of the most richly layered planting designs of any public garden in the world.

Conversation

Regenerative urban transport: designing infrastructure for a changing climate

As Australia invests in a new era of public transport infrastructure, sustainability has become a defining principle, not a design afterthought.

Conversation

The path to climate-resilient and healthy cities is paved with plants

As cities grapple with the growing challenges of climate change and public health, integrating nature and biodiversity into urban environments is crucial. Here, we reveal ten essential pillars of city-wide nature restoration.

Research

Rethinking wildlife habitat design in the public realm

Hassell, in collaboration with the University of Melbourne’s Urban Ecology Design Lab and the Robotics Lab and the School of Biosciences, has released two groundbreaking resources to help city-makers embed thriving wildlife habitats into the fabric of our public spaces.