Design Comments; a visual, dialogue-based approach to facilitate transdisciplinary collaboration and holistic solutions in climate change adaptation projects

This PhD-research focused on flood-risk caused by increasing cloudburst events in Denmark, using three, on-going, early-phase-CCA-projects as its case studies. The research employed action-research and landscape architectural research methods (research through design), for example, visualising relationships between flood risk, historical terrains, settlement patterns and ´softer´ values such as aesthetics.

Results
The case study insights were conceptualised into ´Design Comments´, as a method to mediate different bodies of knowledge and seek holistic CCA solutions in transdisciplinary contexts.
The Design Comments consist of four elements; (1) the production and use of landscape architectural products such as visual, tangible mappings (2) a formatting of these (3) a dialogue-based facilitation of transdisciplinary collaboration using the products from landscape architecture (4) a ´bridge of relevance´ as the shared concern for all actors. In this research context, the bridge of relevance was specific, geographic locations and flood maps.
In the case studies, the Design Comments served as a mediator for exchanging different bodies of knowledge. For example, ´soft knowledge such as the common good for a neighbourhood or a sense of place, and ´hard´ knowledge such as flood-risk calculations and soil conditions.

At a methodological level, this research explored how to promote holistic CCA solutions based on different bodies of knowledge. The action-research showed how the visual methods of landscape architecture were capable of facilitating informal, in-depth exchange of knowledge between different professions.
The results of the three case studies pointed to using the visual and open-ended design products as Design Comments could contribute to transdisciplinary collaboration and inform the overall CCA projects.