AJM Planning and Design

23/05/2026

🌱In Johannesburg, invasive plants have degraded areas around the city’s Jukskei River.

Pines, black wattle, eucalyptus, bugweed and other invasives monopolize nutrients and outcompete local flora.

They also worsen flooding, especially in Johannesburg’s riverside informal settlements like Alexandra and Soweto. Invasive plants’ roots push out deeper-rooted indigenous species, destabilizing the soil around riverbanks. When rain hits these riverbanks, loose soil and sediment flow into the river, reducing its ability to absorb and slow floodwaters.

Aggressive invasive roots also damage drainage pipes and culverts, multiplying flood impacts. Shifts in climate and rainfall patterns are further exacerbating the problem: as temperatures increase, invasives thrive, densify and spread.

Working with local communities, initiatives like WRI’s SUNCASA project are removing invasive plants to prevent flooding and loss of biodiversity while supporting livelihoods. So far, the project has cleared invasive plants from more than 133 hectares along the Jukskei’s riverbanks while creating more than 100 jobs in the process. Workers are also reintroducing indigenous species like African olive and white stinkwood. The trees’ sturdy roots will stabilize the Jukskei’s riverbanks, increase local biodiversity and reduce the impact of flooding.

Johannesburg is also developing a Transformative Riverine Management Program, a framework and business model for investors and corporations to get involved in rehabilitating the city’s rivers, starting with the Jukskei.

From Kinshasa to Dire Dawa, cities across Africa are discovering that wetlands, trees and parks could be their strongest defense against climate change. Learn more: https://go.wri.org/africa-nbs-fb

22/05/2026

Why do we love trees? Let us count the ways.

Trees are living biodiversity, and they help other life thrive. They cool our streets, clean our air, absorb rain, store carbon, and give birds and other urban wildlife a place to survive.

Meanwhile, elevated expressways make room for cars by taking space from life.

This International Day for Biological Diversity, let’s remind government agencies and billionaire corporations: cities like Manila need decisions that permit life to thrive, not projects that permit more heat, flooding, pollution, and injustice.

22/05/2026

Getting the AJM Community moving, cracking jokes, and teaming up – collab goals!

20/05/2026

15/05/2026

14/05/2026

🌳😌🌇The cooling power of trees starts with shade.

When surfaces like pavement, rooftops and buildings are exposed to direct sunlight, they absorb and store heat, releasing it back into the air long after the sun goes down. Trees interrupt that process. They shade sidewalks, streets and people, preventing surfaces from heating up in the first place. They also cool the surrounding air through evapotranspiration, the release of water v***r from leaves.

Together, shade and evapotranspiration allow trees to provide cooling at multiple scales at once — from lowering neighborhood air temperatures to reducing surface heating to easing hyperlocal thermal stress. This all makes outdoor conditions more bearable during the hottest months of the year and reduces heat-induced illness and mortality.

Learn more about the cooling potential of urban trees➡️ https://go.wri.org/cool-trees-fb

09/05/2026

09/05/2026

04/05/2026

Growing leaders who put people and places first.

01/05/2026

Araw ng mga Manggagawa | Sa AJM Community na binubuo ng allied professionals, salamat sa galing, sipag, at malasakit ninyo. Pagpupugay rin sa lahat ng mga manggagawang Filipino! 🇵🇭

30/04/2026

To all Filipino landscape architects 🇵🇭 and to our colleagues around the world 🌎— Happy World Landscape Architecture Month 2026!

Our work goes beyond design. We heal land, we grow hope, and we build for those who come after us.

Padayon! 🌱🌳