Landscape Architecture Commons^™

The Impact Of Trees On Passive Survivability During Extreme Heat Events In Warm And Humid Regions, Ulrike Passe, Janette R. Thompson, Baskar Ganapathysubramanian, Boshun Gao, Breanna L. Marmur

Breanna L. Marmur

Communities are increasingly affected by excessive heat. The likelihood of extreme heat events is predicted to increase in the Midwest region of the United States. By mid-century (2036–2065), one year out of 10 is projected to have a 5-day period that is 13°F warmer than a comparable earlier period (1976–2005). The frequency of high humidity/dew point days (“extra moist tropical air mass days,” MT++ synoptic climate classification system) has also increased significantly during a similar period (1975–2010) and between 2010 and 2014 included 8 of 26 heat events. This impact is exacerbated by the fact that many residences in low-income …

The Beginning Student Of Design: Architectural Frames Of Reference, Gregory S. Palermo

Gregory Palermo

There they are, every Tuesday and Thursday -- two hundred minds seeking perspective on the means by which to access architecture: to think about it, look at it and analyze it, engage in discussions about it, and experience it. Student interests and capabilities are varied because in addition to being required for pre-architecture students, this is a university general studies course -- a threshold into the adventure of architecture! This paper addresses the content and methods of introducing architectural frames of reference to the beginning student of design in the challenging large lecture learning environment. Canon and skepticism. Five frames …

Urban Design Guidelines For Places With Restorative Values, Nigel Cartlidge, Lynne Armitage, Daniel O'Hare

Daniel O'Hare

This paper evolved from a case study of three Gold Coast beach precincts that examined the complex relationships between the urban design attributes and spatial arrangement of beach precincts and their effect on public access to activity, amenity and facility. Australian and overseas urban design guidelines were examined along with the requirements of restorative places. The focus of the scrutiny of the guidelines was to identify the nature of urban design principles that enhance egalitarian, walkable access to the restorative values found in beach precincts. The intended goal was to produce urban design guidelines for walkable places with restorative values, …

Urban Beach Venues: Vulnerability And Sustainability In The Face Of Climate Change, Michael Raybould, David Anning, Liz Fredline, Dan Ware

Michael Raybould

This paper investigates the threats to beach venues posed by climate change and attempts to identify strategies that might be adopted by coastal managers and event managers to ensure that beaches continue to be viable event and recreation venues into the future. Analysis of coastal management research, local council records and tender documents, maps and plans of coastal works identifies six specific strategies for minimising the impacts of climate change on beach venues. These strategies aim to protect existing beach venues, increase the supply of alternative venues, minimise the event tourism impacts of negative media coverage of beach erosion events, …

Umass Amherst Green Building Guidelines 2013, Ludmilla Pavlova-Gillham, Ted Mendoza, Ezra Small, Patricia O'Flaherty, Nariman Mostafavi, Mohamed Farzinmoghadam, Somayeh Tabatabaee Pozveh

Ludmilla D Pavlova

Facilities & Campus Services, Sustainable UMass and Campus Planning support sustainability and energy conservation initiatives by providing in-house resources to campus staff as well as designers and contractors working with the University. The UMass Amherst Green Building Guidelines provide a framework for approaching new construction and major renovation projects at UMass Amherst that are undergoing LEED certification by focusing the conversation on green building aspects that are most important to the campus. They are intended to be the beginning of a dynamic conversation between designers, environmental consultants and constructors, university stakeholders, and users of new high performance buildings.

Umass Amherst Campus Master Plan Sustainability Chapter, Ludmilla Pavlova-Gillham, Nariman Mostafavi, Mohamad Farzinmoghadam, Kylie A. Landrey, Somayeh Tabatabaee Pozveh, Ezra Small, Ted Mendoza, Jason J. Burbank, Robert Ryan, Dennis Swinford, Niels La Cour, Alexander Stepanov

Ludmilla D Pavlova

The UMass Amherst Campus Master Plan Sustainability Chapter articulates the manner in which the Campus Master Plan 2012 principles translate into specific recommendations for campus systems development in support of future smart growth. It summarizes the current physical campus-scale planning projects that Facilities & Campus Services have completed during and after the Master Plan process, and incorporates other operational and educational initiatives that have engaged our campus community as we plan for sustainability. The CMP Chapter is organized in three major sections: i) sustainability overview; ii) campus master plan systems; iii) current initiatives; and iv) next steps. The first section …

Climbing The Adaptation Planning Ladder: Barriers And Enablers In Municipal Planning, Elisabeth M. Hamin, Nicole Gurran

Elisabeth M. Hamin

Local municipal governments have a crucial role in helping communities adapt to climate change. Recognizing different levels of climate preparedness, this chapter analyzes what steps communities tend to follow when they move forward on climate adaptation, including prerequisites for planning and the selection of policies. Drawing on content analyses of local climate adaptation plans from the United States (US) and Australia, as well as interviews with municipal planners in both nations, the chapter explores the adaptation policy choices communities are making and explains the range of strategies local governments have used to move forward on a ‘ladder’ of climate adaptation, …

Living Wall (Vertical Greening): Benefits And Threats, Mehdi Rakhshandehroo, Mohd Johari Mohd Yusof, Roozbeh Arabi

mrakhshandehroo@yahoo.com

Sustainable development demands a significant approach between architecture and the environment. During the challenge of climate change, energy crisis and urban expansion, a new approach is required to address environmental problems and one of these approaches is vertical greening that can be categorized into green facade and living wall. Living wall systems (LWS) consist of plants and partly growing materials that have a number of beneficial functions, for example: increasing the outdoor and indoor comfort, ecological value, biodiversity, insulation properties, improvement of air quality mitigation of the urban heat island phenomenon, and psychological and social well-being of citizens. This paper …

Green Façade (Vertical Greening): Benefits And Threats, Mehdi Rakhshandehroo, Mohd Johari Mohd Yusof, Meysam Deghati Najd

mrakhshandehroo@yahoo.com

In the challenge of development in dense urban areas and environmental preservation, sustainability is a significant requirement where green facade (vertical greening) is one of those approaches that flourished during the last decade although it is not a new concept. Hanging or vertical garden, vertical vegetable farms, balcony garden, container or planter box greening, green or eco building, green roof or rooftop garden, wall planter, and green envelop are all different aspects of this idea that demonstrate how wide this landscape can be. Greening the building envelope with vegetation can be used as a mean to restore the environmental conditions …

Sustainable Urban Open Green Spaces: Opportunities And Challenges, Mehdi Rakhshandehroo, Mohd Johari Mohd Yusof, Osman Mohd Tahir, Mohd Yazid Mohd Yunos

mrakhshandehroo@yahoo.com

Shortage of open green spaces has become a common concern in today’s compact cities. Based on the literature review, urban open green spaces provide different dimensions of sustainability because of opportunities for social, environmental, and economic benefits which contribute to quality of life in cities. Urban development and renewal should be accompanied with a greening vision, to insert more plantable spaces into the urban fabric. Therefore sustainable urban planning, design and management are needed to improve urban greening strategy. In order to enhance urban greenery, innovative and creative ideas should be applied in urban management, for instance informal open green …

The Concept Of Ecosystem Services In Adaptive Urban Planning And Design: A Framework For Supporting Innovation, Jack F. Ahern, Sarel Cilliers, Jari Niemela

Jack F. Ahern

Recent research and professional interest in planning for sustainable and resilient cities emphasizes the assessment of a broad spectrum of urban ecosystem services. While such assessments are useful to establish specific benchmarks, and for measuring progress toward sustainability and resilience goals, they do not motivate, or support the innovations required to provide specific ecosystem services as an intentional part of routine urban and infrastructure development activity by municipalities and professionals. In this context, predictions for unprecedented future urbanization and development of new urban infrastructure represent a unique opportunity to “learn-by-doing”. Significant advances in urban sustainability have recently been made through …

'Gardens Of Justice': Australian Feminist Law Journal, 2013, Volume 39, Matilda Arvidsson, Leila Brännström, Merima Bruncevic, Leif Dahlberg

Matilda Arvidsson

FOREWARD: GARDENS OF JUSTICE

Matilda Arvidsson, Merima Bruncevic, Leila Brannstrom, Leif Dahlberg

Our Gardens of Justice special themed issue of the Australian Feminist Law Journal grew out of the 2012 Critical Legal Conference in Stockholm and its theme of Gardens of Justice, a conference organised by Matilda Arvidsson, Merima Bruncevic, Leila Brannstrom and Leif Dahlberg. We issued a Call for Papers early in 2013 in which several conference theme questions were repeated. We called for papers devoted to thinking about law and justice as a physical as well as a social environment. The theme suggested a plurality of justice gardens …

Embodying Law In The Garden: An Autoethnographic Account Of An Office Of Law, Matilda Arvidsson

Dr Matilda Arvidsson

Based on an autoethnographical study of the office of the tingsnotarie this article questions the relation between the ethical self and the act of taking up a judicial office, employing the question of how I can live with (my) law. While the office and the ethical self are kept apart, often by recourse to persona, I make a case for the attendance to the self in examinations of ethical responsibility when pursuing an office of law. I propose that the garden, and in particular the practices and notions of (en)closure, (loss of) direction, cultivation, (dis)order, authorship and care-for-the-other which are …

Performance And Economic Benefits Of Four Streetscape Renovations: A Comparative Case Study Investigation, Bo Yang, Yue Zhang, Pamela Blackmore

Bo Yang

The demonstration of landscape performance benefits has become increasingly important in landscape architecture practice and in communicating to interdisciplinary audiences. This paper provides an overview of the Landscape Architecture Foundation Case Study Investigation (CSI) program and introduces four built streetscape projects investigated in the 2012 CSI program, including a large-scale permeable pavement project in Charles City, Iowa, and the American Society of Landscape Architects’ award-winning projects in Missouri, California, and Colorado. Unlike traditional streetscape design that mainly focuses on safety and engineering principles, these four streetscape projects tackled unique design challenges, and more importantly, have captured baseline data that help …

Form-Based Variables For Stormwater Quality Performance: Comparing Three Bmp Types In Five U.S. States, Bo Yang, Amanda A. Goodwin, Ryan R. Dupont, Malgorzata Rycewicz-Borecki

Bo Yang

The efficacy of the best management practice (BMP) systems for stormwater treatment has been extensively discussed in respect to water quality. However, little research has been conducted on how form-based variables (e.g., shape, length) can affect the performance of BMP systems. This study presents empirical findings from three common BMP types—detention, retention, and wetland channel—in urban settings of five U.S. states. Total suspended solids (TSS), the number one pollutant carrier in stormwater, is selected for comparison. Multiple years of water quality data are collected from on-site grab samples and from the International Stormwater Database. Geographic Information System (GIS) is used …

3d Digital Graphics In Landscape Architecture Professional Practice: Current Conditions In A Nutshell, Shujuan Li, Bo Yang, Jie Yan

Bo Yang

3D digital graphics and representation have been a critical part in landscape architecture professional practice. However, few studies have been conducted to document how 3D digital graphics are currently being used. Some important questions are largely unknown. For example, who are the primary users of 3D digital graphics programs, and what are the most popular 3D software packages, and why. A better understanding of these questions is not only important to practitioners, but also to educators and software developers. This study tackles the above questions through a national online survey of landscape architecture firms. Five sets of questions were asked, …

Local Levers For Change: Mainstreaming Ecosystem-Based Adaptation Into Municipal Planning To Foster Sustainability Transitions, Christine Wamsler, Christopher Luederitz, Ebba Brink

Christine Wamsler

Unprecedented global challenges demand wide-reaching societal modification to ensure life support functions and human well-being. In the absence of adequate international responses to climate change and the need for place-based adaptation, local governments have a pivotal role in fostering sustainability transitions. In this context, the importance of ecosystem-based adaptation is increasingly recognized as a multi-benefit approach that utilizes ecosystem services to harmonize human-environment systems. Although research advocates the mainstreaming of ecosystem-based adaptation to advance sustainable planning, the pathways for its systematic implementation are missing and it remains unclear how local authorities can best integrate this new approach into their core …

Establishing New Urban Green Spaces Classification For Malaysian Cities, Mehdi Rakhshandehroo, Mohd Johari Mohd Yusof

mrakhshandehroo@yahoo.com

It is estimated that over 50 per cent of the world’s population now reside in urban areas. Moreover, the United Nations (2010) projects that the world’s urban areas will absorb all of the global population growth over the next four decades, as well as continue to draw some of the rural population. Urban green is often at the center of the debate on urban sustainability, as it is so essential for quality of life. Urban green and open spaces have different values like: ecological, economic, social …. In urban planning usually there is a conflict between urban development and environmental …

Reflections On Developing Landscape Performance Case Studies, Jessica Canfield, Bo Yang

Bo Yang

Increasingly landscape architects are being asked to design and evaluate high-performing, multi-functional landscapes. To grow the profession’s knowledge about landscape performance, in 2010 the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) launched the Landscape Performance Series (LPS). The centerpiece of the LPS are case studies, which aim to illustrate the sustainable features and subsequent benefits of high-performing built works. Though LAF has established guidelines for the content and format of its LPS case studies, a formalized procedure for identifying and quantifying a project’s landscape performance benefits has yet to be developed. As foundation for a forthcoming set of performance benefit guidelines, we reflect …

Performance, Appearance, Economy, And Working Method, Jack F. Ahern, Paulo Pellegrino, Newton Becker

Jack F. Ahern

No abstract provided.

Landscape Planning And Design In The Century Of The City, Jack F. Ahern, Huang Yi-Wei

Jack F. Ahern

Urbanization is expected to occur at different rates around the world but will mostly occur in the developing countries. Based on the analysis of the opportunities and challenges that global urbanization has brought to the cities, the author discusses about the urban dynamics typology, ecosystem services and functions, greenways and green infrastructure, and so on. Taking Shanghai as example, the author also analyzes the experiment values of urban sprawl, and lays expectation on the significance and trends of landscape architecture to urban sustainable development.

Climate Change Adaptation Chapter: Marshfield, Massachusetts, Joshua H. Chase, Jonathan G. Cooper, Rory Elizabeth Fitzgerald, Filipe Antunes Lima, Sally R. Miller, Toni Marie Pignatelli

Jonathan G. Cooper

Climate change, understood as a statistically significant variation in the mean state of the climate or its variability, is the greatest environmental challenge of this generation (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2001). Marshfield is already being affected by changes in the climate that will have a profound effect on the town’s economy, public health, coastal resources, natural features, water systems, and public and private infrastructure. Adaptation strategies have been widely recognized as playing an important role in improving a community’s ability to respond to climate stressors by resisting damage and recovering quickly. Based on review of climate projections for the …

2013 Proceedings Of Fabos Conference On Landscape And Greenway Planning, Mark S. Lindhult

Mark S Lindhult, FASLA

The Fábos Conference on Landscape and Greenway Planning is held every three years to bring together experts who are influencing landscape planning, policy making and greenway planning from the local to international level. The papers contained in this book highlight recent trends and expand the literature about landscape and greenway planning and describe how different countries are approaching greenway planning and tailoring them to each country’s unique geographical, cultural, and political circumstances.

Population 7 – Lyman Street Art Intervention, Carli Foster, Elizabeth Ann Englebreston, Eric Wojtowicz, Yiwei Huang

Yiwei Huang

POPULATION 7 started as an experiment in the fall of 2011 as an Urban Art Laboratory “Art – Place – Tour” with the vision to make a tangible impact to the culture of public art in Springfield. At first sight art seems to be not existent in the public realm. We are searching for an organic, sustainable concept with the potential to grow from inside to outside. Our goal is to invite to a discussion about public art and art in general that is introduced through minimal but diverse, economical eventually temporary, site-responsive interventions. We see our art as personal …

Climate Change Adaptation Chapter: Marshfield, Massachusetts, Joshua H. Chase, Jonathan G. Cooper, Rory Elizabeth Fitzgerald, Filipe Antunes Lima, Sally R. Miller, Toni Marie Pignatelli

Sally Miller

Climate change, understood as a statistically significant variation in the mean state of the climate or its variability, is the greatest environmental challenge of this generation (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2001). Marshfield is already being affected by changes in the climate that will have a profound effect on the town’s economy, public health, coastal resources, natural features, water systems, and public and private infrastructure. Adaptation strategies have been widely recognized as playing an important role in improving a community’s ability to respond to climate stressors by resisting damage and recovering quickly. Based on review of climate projections for the …

Green Infrastructure Design For Stormwater Runoff And Water Quality: Empirical Evidence From Large Watershed-Scale Community Developments, Bo Yang, Shujuan Li

Bo Yang

Green infrastructure (GI) design is advocated as a new paradigm for stormwater management, whereas current knowledge of GI design is mostly based on isolated design strategies used at small-scale sites. This study presents empirical findings from two watershed-scale community projects (89.4 km2 and 55.7 km2) in suburban Houston, Texas. The GI development integrates a suite of on-site, infiltration-based stormwater management designs, and an adjacent community development follows conventional drainage design. Parcel data were used to estimate the site impervious cover area. Observed streamflow and water quality data (i.e., NO3-N, NH3-N, and TP) were correlated with the site imperviousness. Results show …

Design-With-Nature For Multifunctional Landscapes: Environmental Benefits And Social Barriers In Community Development, Bo Yang, Ming-Han Li, Shujuan Li

Bo Yang

Since the early 1970s, Ian McHarg’s design-with-nature concept has been inspiring landscape architects, community and regional planners, and liked-minded professionals to create designs that take advantage of ecosystem services and promote environmental and public health. This study bridges the gap in the literature that has resulted from a lack of empirical examinations on the multiple performance benefits derived through design-with-nature and the under-investigated social aspect emanated from McHarg’s Ecological Determinism design approach. The Woodlands, TX, USA, an ecologically designed community development under McHarg’s approach, is compared with two adjacent communities that follow the conventional design approach. Using national environmental databases …

Community Planning Approach And Residents’ Perceived Safety: A Landscape Analysis Of Park Design In The Woodlands, Texas, Bo Yang, Shujuan Li, Bret R. Elder, Zhe Wang

Bo Yang

This study compares community-park design and residents’ perceptions of safety in two subdivision communities in The Woodlands, Texas. The communities were built following two different planning approaches — the ecological approach and the conventional approach. Surveys have shown that residents generally feel safer in community parks built according to the latter approach. Using landscape metrics and home-to-park proximity indicators, we examine how different planning approaches affect park design and, as a result, influence residents’ perceptions of safety. We cross-validated the results with survey studies conducted over several years. The study findings suggest that park location, spatial configuration of woody vegetation, …

Mainstreaming Climate In The Classroom: Teaching Climate Change Planning, Elisabeth M. Hamin, Daniel J. Marcucci

Elisabeth M. Hamin

Climate change planning, both mitigation (reducing greenhouse gasses) and adaptation (designing built environments for changed climate conditions), is an area of emerging importance in both planning practice and education. This research examines the uptake of climate issues in planning education programs primarily in the U.S., and compares course content to leading climate change planning practice and research concepts. Studio and seminar courses are emerging in a variety of universities, and are addressing many of the key research concepts for mitigation and adaptation. Beyond stand-alone classes, the article argues the need to mainstream climate considerations in core planning curricula. Modeling this …

An Assessment Of The Effects Of Desertification In Yobe State, Nigeria, Jibril Musa Phd

Confluence Journal Environmental Studies (CJES), Kogi State University, Nigeria

Desertification is one of the most serious environmental and socio-economic problems of our time. Desertification describes circumstances of land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid regions resulting from the climatic variation and human activities. The fundamental goal of this thesis was to assess the effects of desertification in Yobe State, Nigeria. The present threat of desertification in the sahel has reached an alarming stage where crops cultivation and animal rearing/grazing are no more productive, soil has lost its nutrient/fertility, various infrastructure had given way because of windstorm from the neighbouring Niger Republic and sand dunes had taken over. The …