Learning from artificial glaciers in the Himalaya: design for climate change through low-tech infrastructural devices

In the face of global climate change, radical design proposals present a rare optimistic perspective for future environmental adaptation, and ultimately, human survival. Artificial glaciers in the Himalaya illustrate just one of the many innovative landform designs that have recently emerged as a response to climate change challenges. These projects for climate change adaptation represent a new genre of design work that could have considerable implications for the profession of landscape architecture. As cities and towns confront the volatile environmental conditions of the twenty-first century, the broad reach and disciplinary expertise of landscape architecture could provide valuable design thinking around climate change geoengineering, adaptation, and mitigation. However, while large-scale infrastructural projects, such as artificial glaciers, appear to mediate the negative effects of climate change in the short term, these solutions may only provide temporary relief from the larger crisis of a warming planet.