Educating future landscape professionals about climate change and climate-wise design: current status, priorities, and information needs

While climate change is increasingly being viewed as one of the most critical issues affecting the landscape design and horticultural industries today, research indicates that many current professionals feel unprepared to address climate change issues in their practice. This paper summarises a survey of faculty and students in post-secondary horticulture and landscape architecture/design programmes within the United States about existing practices of educating students (future professionals) about climate change, as well as perceived priority topics and information needs. Results identify areas where additional instructional resources may be needed, as well as climate-related topics receiving more emphasis than others. The study also identifies differences in student and faculty perceptions about the extent and importance of instruction in specific areas. Finally, this paper raises a number of unresolved questions regarding the underlying reasons for some topics receiving greater emphasis, and the potential implications from lack of emphasis on others.