This blog is part of the Energy Crossroads Podcast series, helping listeners learn more about the episode in an alternative format.
HARC’s team sat down with Scott McCready, Principal and Board Member at the SWA Group, a leading landscape architecture and urban design firm. Scott brought his perspective on how thoughtful design can build resilience in our urban environments, especially in infrastructure-heavy cities like Houston. His insights reflect a city that’s not only responding to challenges like flooding, heat, and overdevelopment, but turning them into opportunities to build a more resilient and vibrant community.
Scott has spent nearly three decades shaping public spaces across Texas. His work is deeply rooted in the idea that landscapes are essential infrastructure. Scott and his team at SWA focus on humanizing infrastructure by reimagining streets, parks, and drainage systems as multi-functional spaces that support both communities and ecosystems.
This shift in thinking of landscapes as infrastructure reframes green spaces as critical components of urban survival, capable of softening extreme weather impacts, filtering water and air, supporting wildlife, and enhancing economic value by making cities more livable and attractive. Viewing and designing landscapes as infrastructure helps cities manage growth, resilience, and livability. Whether it’s a park, a bayou trail, or a redesigned street, these spaces are meant to perform essential functions.
Parks and Landscape as Infrastructure
If you’re not from Houston, the word bayou might seem unfamiliar. But as Scott explains, bayous are simply shallow, slow-moving rivers. Unlike mountainous rivers that evolve over centuries, Houston’s bayous shift course within decades, making urban development around them challenging. The dynamic nature of bayous contributes to climate risks, like flooding.
One standout SWA project Scott shared was Buffalo Bayou Park, a 160-acre urban park revitalization. Instead of turning the bayou into a concrete-lined drainage ditch, the team embraced the landscape. They allowed the bayou to flood in controlled ways, preserved habitats, built scenic trails, pedestrian bridges, opportunities for recreation, and even places to eat and rest, making it a true community hub and ecological asset.
“This project got people closer to the water… It raises our collective intelligence about what it means to live by a river,” says Scott.
Urban parks can further serve residents by incorporating clean energy strategies. Evelyn’s Park in Bellaire, Texas initially worked with funding from Green Mountain Energy on a solar panel demonstration project and ended up with a park that is net zero from the site lighting standpoint. Scott links this approach to the triple bottom line: integrating environmental, economic, and social value into every project. It’s not just about conserving resources, it’s about strengthening the community, reducing operational costs, and encouraging smarter development.
What Can You Do?
You don’t need a landscape design firm behind you to have an impact. Scott shared how, even as a designer, his own urban yard became a laboratory for sustainability. By replacing ornamental, non-native landscaping with fruit trees and native plants, he created a thriving mini-ecosystem with lizards, butterflies, and fewer mosquitoes while lowering maintenance and energy use.
Native plants, with their deeper root systems, support soil health and withstand Houston’s extreme weather much better than imported varieties. They’re better for wildlife and contribute to the broader urban ecology. Instead of the standard chemical-dependent lawn, consider planting native species that support local wildlife, require less maintenance, and handle Houston’s climate extremes better. From fruit trees to native meadows, small backyard changes can contribute to a healthier urban ecosystem. The costs of planting a tree, especially one in a developed area, can seem high, but once that tree is established, the benefits are well worth the investment.
What is next?
Looking ahead, Scott sees a critical upcoming 5–10 years for Houston and cities like it, where planning must meet the moment of climate extremes and aging infrastructure. What’s on the horizon?
At the heart of Scott’s vision is a simple truth: landscapes act as essential infrastructure. Whether it’s managing floods, feeding a family, cooling a home, or offering peace of mind, every piece of land has potential beyond its curb appeal. Houston may be sprawling, but it’s also uniquely dynamic. With creativity, collaboration, and clear goals, it’s possible to build a more resilient landscape. The challenge is to unlock that potential through thoughtful and forward-thinking design.
“If you build it back correctly, nature will come right back very quickly.”
Listen to the full episode of Energy Crossroads to hear Scott McCready’s insights on designing a resilient future here.
