National Geographic: Making places beautiful is not enough for Kate Orff. The landscape architect also wants to make them adaptable to climate change and its extreme effects. “Every square inch of the planet has been impacted, intentionally or not, by human agency,” she says. “My goal is to translate that into something positive.”

Scape, her design studio, has partnered with New York State (with federal funding) to create what they’re calling “living breakwaters” along the south shore of Staten Island, which was pummeled by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The breakwaters will do triple duty—protect the coastline from future storms and erosion, restore marine habitat in Raritan Bay, and provide places along the shore for residents to learn about the ecosystem and to engage with it. Continue reading here>>