Smith: Sustainability has often been treated as an afterthought or something to check off for a certification. Now, it’s baked into how we think about design from day one. What’s really shifted is a focus on resilience. With wildfires, flooding and other extreme events becoming more frequent, the conversation is less about ‘green points’ and more about creating places that can recover quickly and minimize damage. Developers, regulators and designers are all pushing this forward, making projects smarter, more adaptable and ready for the future.

Lloyd: Resilience is about designing places that keep working – sometimes in ways you don’t immediately see. It’s not just about withstanding storms or heavy rainfall. It’s about creating environments that continue to provide value over decades. That might mean planting flood-tolerant trees that stabilize soil, designing wetlands that store stormwater naturally or creating flexible public spaces that can shift with community needs. Resilience is really about stewardship – thinking long-term, understanding the site deeply and making sure the place can thrive, not just survive under changing conditions.

Lloyd: The key is involving the right people early – bringing landscape architects and key partners into the process so resiliency, green infrastructure and life cycle thinking shape the project from day one. When you plan this way, you’re creating spaces that improve land performance, reduce long-term costs, feel alive for the people using them and stay functional even under stress. At the same time, the right design decisions also help manage water, mitigate fire risk and support ecosystems – making the property not only more resilient but also insurable, viable and better positioned for long-term value.

Smith: Nature-based solutions will take center stage. Preserving wetlands, dunes and tree canopies isn’t just for looks – they help manage flooding, soak up stormwater and protect against extreme weather. We’re also moving toward approaches like ‘sponge cities’ where landscapes absorb and store water naturally instead of relying only on traditional fixes. And it’s not just about water – walkable streets, better transit and connected open spaces make neighborhoods healthier, more resilient and a place people actually want to live.