Forest connectivity is important for the range shifts and long-term persistence of forest-dependent species, especially in the context of climate change. This study assessed the climate connectivity of European forests for species to track suitable climate conditions as the climate warms. Here, climate connectivity was calculated as the temperature difference between each forest patch and the coolest patch that can be reached along temperature gradients. We found that, overall, about 36% of the total forested area in Europe has achieved successful climate connectivity under the moderate emission scenario (SSP245), whereby species range shifts could circumvent the impact of climate warming. The percentage is much lower under the highest emission scenario (SSP585), which is only 12%. To identify forest areas of high importance for climate connectivity, we further evaluated the potential of each forest patch to serve as a stepping stone for species range shifts. Our results showed that about 94% of the European forested area is expected to experience species range shifts. Our study identified sites of high conservation value for improving and sustaining forest connectivity to facilitate climate-driven range shifts and thus could provide information for climate-smart management of European forests.

Despite projected global rises in chicken consumption, growing environmental and welfare challenges threaten the future of commercial poultry production. Though some of these challenges, such as biosecurity, sourcing, pollution, and waste, have been thoroughly researched, the open-ended, complex, and interrelated nature of the sector means that it is difficult for poultry producers to know how to change. Design may offer a new way to analyse and reframe these challenges, to speculate on a range of different solutions for these complex systems of production. This paper reflects on the research-by-design methods applied to reimagine environmentally sustainable, high-welfare poultry housing futures. The paper is based on an eighteen-month long, multidisciplinary research project with a large U.K.-based poultry farming integrator, a poultry house ventilation and equipment supplier, and academic partners with expertise in research-by-design and bird welfare. After contextualising challenges faced by the poultry sector, the paper outlines a three-step, iterative approach within which design methods were applied, beginning with (1) a baseline analysis of farm inputs, outputs, actors, and networks, and then (2) a consolidation of themes and scenarios, leading to the development of (3) a compendium of ideas for the future of poultry farming. The Results section presents three design propositions, each imagining different futures by recreating the farm as a system of “closed-loop” flows, reframing the “chicken as client” and challenging current centralised models of production to connect consumers to food provenance and impact. These propositions function as vehicles to test design methods, such as designing for resource flows challenging actor hierarchies and hacking stakeholder networks. While some interesting ideas are presented, the paper highlights the complexity of the challenge and reflects on the value of design to reframe these challenges to collaboratively foster new perspectives and mindsets.

Considering the way architects and urban designers work is critical to the implementation of Food-Energy-Water (FEW)-research when imagining the future of cities. Current FEW-research places emphasis on decision support systems, backed by quantification driven approaches to analyse the FEW-nexus. However, it forgets the heuristic, iterative process of design, that is different for all designers or design teams. As such, this chapter explores how architects and urban designers engage with place, the context of landscape and urban settlement, and data, the metrics by which the FEW-nexus is analysed. Proposed is a view that designers continually oscillate between content and form, iterating designs that access data or information on a need-to-know basis. Reflections between content and form are defined as ‘enquiry’, testing of content in the design process, and ‘validation’, scrutinising the implications of a design on the FEW-nexus. Consequently, it poses the question of how much a designer really needs to know within the process and whether they place greater emphasis on truth or validity as a modus operandi? The complexity, messiness and interconnectedness of the city requires a design approach that current FEW decision support systems do not take into consideration. The projective, conceptual and speculative operatives of design allow for new ways of viewing the FEW-nexus but requires flexible frameworks and mediums that enable designers to scale and frame propositions based on FEW-literate information at hand rather than in-depth quantification and data collection. Ultimately, design is an effective, rather than efficient, practice that considers wider social, cultural and environmental implications on the city and its residents.

Islands represent distinctive geographical landscapes where cultural heritage, history, and ecological systems converge, offering critical insights into human–environment interactions. This study investigates how visual storytelling through digital tools such as the Historical Environment Map Viewer, Environment Digimap, Google Maps and Google Street View, and ArcGIS Field Maps can be employed to capture, interpret, and communicate islands’ landscape changes. By integrating historical environmental mapping, landscape change mapping, street map views, and field observations, this study creates a layered visual narrative that reveals shifts in land use, settlement patterns, and ecological features over time. Rathlin Island represents a distinctive island landscape, and this study uses visual storytelling as a tool to foster a broader public understanding of environmental conservation and engagement with the island’s ecologial challenges. The study demonstrates that multi-perspective, interdisciplinary methods provide valuable insights into the complex dynamics of landscape change, while also offering a comprehensive vision of sustainable future landscape on small islands.