Yazid Ninsalam

I am a landscape architecture academic based in the School of Architecture and Urban Design since 2017. My training in the field of architecture and landscape architecture allows me to work on projects that increase the resilience of sites by reducing non-climatic sources of stress. For example, in my work I deal with developing adaptation strategies in guiding the expansion of the city into hazard-prone areas in Honiara, Solomon Islands to developing river transformation scenarios considering potential flood events in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Prior to RMIT, I was based in Singapore and completed my doctoral research with the Landscape Ecology team that was part of the Singapore ETH Centre - Future Cities Laboratory. My thesis was conferred by the National University of Singapore in 2017. I focussed on research related to rapid landscape transformations across cities in Indonesia impacted by both urban development and climate change issues. Throughout my research, I have deployed a range of 3D reconstruction methods (from aerial, terrestrial and underwater photogrammetry, to LiDAR sensors) to document urbanised rivers in Jakarta; paddy fields in Bali; and underwater coral and mangrove shorelines across Bunaken National Park in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. For example, 3D models were used for hydrodynamic modelling to test adaptation scenarios through speculative design of sites impacted by flood events.

At RMIT, I am the Course Coordination of MLA Design Research Studios and lecture into both the undergraduate and graduate landscape architecture programs. I also contribute to Professor Darryn McEvoy’s ‘Climate Resilient Honiara: Implementation of urban resilience actions in Honiara’s informal settlements, Solomon Islands’, with UN-Habitat as the lead Implementing Entity. I aided in the delivery of a Nature-based Solutions (NbS) framework and action plan, and NbS baseline diagnosis and actions. The spatial mapping and LiDAR analysis of ecosystems and ecosystem services undertaken in the work captured existing information about climate vulnerability of Honiara city and guided conceptual designs to pilot NbS. The team facilitated co-design workshops with local stakeholders to identify current initiatives, priority needs, and aspirations, and envision Honiara’s future.

As an Early Career Researcher, I am expanding my research by developing a DECRA proposal (D23) that seeks to guide 3D archival recording for significant heritage places in collaboration with Heritage Victoria. This research aims to increase the capacity of state heritage agencies in Australia to protect cultural and natural heritage places in response to lack of coordination in which heritage management is considered within the context of climate change and urban development.