Newsletter #15: Insights from WEF in Davos – From the Heights of World Finance to the Plains of Daily Life
This month, I would like to share insights from Davos and reflect on how we, as individuals and professionals, can harness confidence, courage, strength, and responsibility to build a more resilient, nature-positive future.
During my time at the World Economic Forum in Davos, it became increasingly clear that addressing the complexity of our times requires new allies. The path forward demands a commitment to public-private partnerships, the active engagement of industries, and a personal dedication to meaningful action. This is not a task for governments or organisations alone—it is a shared responsibility that calls upon everyone to contribute with conviction and purpose.
A Wake-Up Call: Cities Must Lead the Way
On January 23, 2025, President Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement—a profoundly concerning move underscoring the urgency for leadership beyond state actors. Yet, this act has also sparked robust responses from American City mayors and the #C40 Cities network, reaffirming their commitment to addressing the climate crisis. As they stated:
“Our cities will remain the bastions of climate progress, working tirelessly to cut emissions, build a green economy through a just transition, protect our residents from the impacts of the climate crisis, and continue international collaboration.“ (Source)
This reaffirmation echoes a reality we have long recognised: the future belongs to the regions, cities, and communities that take action now. Territorial and urban landscapes, macro-regions beyond national borders, must become the focal point for climate resilience, demonstrating that progress is possible—even in the face of political setbacks.
The Nature-Factory Manifesto: A Tool for the Future
With this in mind, together with Porsche Consulting, LAND presented the “Nature-Factory Manifesto” in Davos, outlining a transformative vision for integrating nature and sustainability into urban and industrial landscapes. Our work as planners and designers places us in a pivotal role: to inspire, enable, and enact change.
We elaborated the Nature-Factory Manifesto with the consciousness of changing a design-thinking paradigm through 5 points:
The Nature-Factory Manifesto presented by Porsche Consulting and LAND
FOCUS ON CITIES AND LARGE URBAN ECOSYSTEMS
Shift from Nature-Positive Cities to Nature-Positive Landscapes to include the city surrounding areas.
DRIVE URBAN DEVELOPMENT THROUGH NATURE RICHNESS
Challenge traditional ways of driving urban development by integrating Nature as a pillar of city growth.
TURN COMPANIES INTO AGENTS FOR NATURE PRODUCTION
Companies must become active producers of Nature, extending their influence beyond current boundaries.
BOOST NATURE-POSITIVE PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS
Enhance Nature-Positive Public-Private Partnerships for biodiversity, sustainability, and ecosystem restoration in urban development.
MEASURE PROGRESS THROUGH NATURAL CAPITAL ACCOUNTING
Adopt Natural Capital Accounting to track Ecosystem Service changes and predict Nature-Positive empowerment.
Roundtable discussion at the launch event of the Nature-Factory Manifesto during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos
These principles were reinforced during the dialogue with Andrea Illy (President of Illy Caffè s.p.a), Verena M. Ehold (Managing Director at Environmental Agency of Austria) and Josef Nierling (CEO Porsche Consulting) by marking three fundamental takeaways:
– A company’s wealth is no longer based on quick profit but on sustainable value gain according to a long-term planned forecast
– Nature is the new pillar of economic development for cities and companies: a shift from growth to perceptible and measurable development
– It is time to act on new targets and new rules for natural value accounting that go beyond local planning time
With nature-positive strategies and decisions based on these principles, we can provide cities, businesses, and planners with a roadmap to address the climate crisis with concrete, scalable actions.
Defying Greenwashing with Real Solutions
Offsetting carbon emissions through questionable CO₂ certificates, such as simply buying existing forests without investing in reforestation or local communities, is no longer acceptable. As planners and landscape architects, we have the expertise to go beyond superficial solutions. We are „grounded“, we plant real trees, manage water systems, and address urban heat islands, to name a few of our mansions—delivering tangible benefits for people on the planet.
Cover art by Thomas Schönauer for Creative Hive’s magazine
Quo Vadis, Planet Earth?
The question of “Where are we headed?” is more urgent than ever. Cities and industries must recognise that sustainability is an ethical imperative and a survival strategy. As we see through the C40 network’s commitment, cities are already stepping up, demonstrating that leadership at the local and regional levels can chart the path forward.
“Nature starts at our doorstep,” and we are responsible for acting. Our profession has become a beacon of pragmatic, ethical and effective responses to the climate crisis in uncertain times.
This belief drives us to expand the technical and scientific feasibility of our investigations and strategies, pushing our services further to champion nature-positive landscapes. Our mission statement—exploring, collaborating, cultivating—is becoming increasingly essential: landscape architects are the players who understand the citizens’ growing awareness, can integrate those requests in planning processes, and create resilient, livable cities.
While being local-based partners in a global effort, we are undoubtedly game-changers for the nature-positive cities of the future, which are deeply connected to the territories in which they are rooted. Our experience is the key to unlocking a sustainable urban future through nature-positive projects that increase private-public collaboration by shifting the common public-private partnership (PPP) paradigm because, as landscape architects, we are trustees of public interests by strategically channelling private investments.
Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, Caspar David Friedrich
Looking Ahead
As we celebrate 35 years of LAND, we are reminded of the power of collaboration, innovation, and persistence. The challenges we face—climate change, urbanisation, and biodiversity loss—are immense, but so is our potential to address them.
The “Nature-Factory Manifesto” will guide our efforts in the coming months as we continue to design landscapes that serve as beacons of hope and resilience. By building a more inclusive, sustainable, and nature-positive world, we can answer the critical question: Quo Vadis, Planet Earth?
Together, let’s shape a future where nature and humanity thrive.
