Sustainable Design and Development Blog

A Community for Landscape Architects and others Interested in Sustainable Design of Landscapes

We can’t wait to see you in San Diego! October 14, 2011

Filed under: ASLA,Events,SDD PPN,Sustainable Sites Initiative — allegra bukojemsky @ 12:28 pm

The ASLA annual meeting is just around the corner. This year’s schedule includes an amazing array of education sessions and field trips and the largest Expo hall yet. And of course there are also a variety of formal and informal events for networking, socializing, and recognizing leaders in our industry. Of this there is of course a great deal of offerings related to sustainable design including workshops, education sessions, and roundtable discussions on the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES). You can review the full schedule online as well as many of the education session handouts.

Leaders and members of the ASLA Sustainable Design and Development Professional Practice Network (SDD PPN) are giving a variety of talks throughout the conference, and we will be meeting to network on Tuesday, November 1st, 9:15–10:45 am in the Expo Hall.

And don’t forget many of the workshops and education sessions will gain you Continuing Education Units (CEUs) Currently:

  • 75 qualify for GBCI credit to maintain your LEED credential
  • 66 qualify for AICP credit
  • 60 qualify for AIA credit
  • 120 are approved by the Florida Board of Landscape Architecture
  • 105 are approved by the New York State Board for Landscape Architecture

We look forward to seeing you there!

 

Opportunity Knocks for Us All! EPA Survey for Stormwater Projects March 9, 2011

Filed under: ASLA,Stormwater — hunter beckham @ 1:48 pm

Survey responses are needed by March 31st.

ASLA is working to gather 300 green infrastructure case studies to submit to EPA, to aid in their rulemaking related to green infrastructure for stormwater management.  Please submit information on stormwater management projects from your firm/organization by filling out the green infrastructure project survey.

Your response to this survey is very important to every landscape architect and provides you an opportunity to showcase some of your own work. Here is the link to the recent Land Online for more information. It really doesn’t take too much of your time and your effort will be very much appreciated by ASLA, the EPA and many of your fellow members. Choose any topic you like, permeable paving, slope stabalization, water quality improvements etc… here is one example.

Before photo of a slope that washed out and silted in a pond.

After photo of the same slope with protection methods in place. This hillside will become a berry bramble that the client can harvest while protecting the integrity of the pond.

 

Sustainable Design and ASLA Federal Priorities February 2, 2011

Filed under: ASLA,Campus,climate change,Government Affairs,green roof,Habitat,Health & Wellbeing,Materials,Native Plants,O&M,PPN Updates,projects,Regional,SDD PPN,Stormwater,Sustainable Sites Initiative,Uncategorized,Urban — hunter beckham @ 2:57 pm

Representative Carnahan receiving his ASLA Honorary Membership from Saint Louis Chapter Trustee in a SITES Pilot Project rain garden

It’s true; Federal Representatives really do pay attention to us as Landscape Architects.

ASLA membership recently responded to a survey on Federal Priorities for 2011 and consistently ranked the following issues the most important to the profession:

  • Sustainable design
  • Water and stormwater management
  • Transportation design and planning
  • Parks, recreation, and active living issues

For more about this visit last months LAND e-news from ASLA

As you can see every one of these has relevance to Sustainable Design and Development. We would love to start a dialog about how these Federal Priorities relate to your regional and local issues.

It would also be great to hear about how these priorities might fit into the work some of you are doing with Sustainable Sites Initiative.

Learn more about ASLA Advocacy at asla.org/advocacy.

 

Sustainability and the System View November 29, 2010

Filed under: ASLA,climate change,projects,Urban — Michael Stanley, RLA @ 6:21 pm

All the discussions regarding sustainability, whether it is related to products, designs, ideas, etc. we must always remember the most important concept:  the system view.  There have been two very influential books in formulating my understanding of sustainability.  The first published in 2008, written by Peter Newman and Isabella Jennings is Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems.  The other, published in 1996, is The Web of Life written by Fritojof Capra.  While Newman and Jennings specifically compare an evolving ecosystem of a city, Capra takes a holistic view. He incorporates the human mind, theories, mathematics and structures.  Both books discuss the understanding of natural systems and humankind’s place in the systems.

We as Landscape Architects and designers need to continue our understanding these systems.  Sustainability is not achieved by one specific item or instance, but with an understanding of energy flow through the system.

What does it mean to make design decisions based on a system?  It means, understanding the energy flow not only in design, but also in the general public’s lifestyle.  Examine the sustainable design practices that we integrate now, green roofs, porous paving, mixed-use housing, grey-water plumbing, public transportation, low-flow irrigation, high-efficiency windows, and the list can go on and on.  All are integral pieces (and needed) but what is lacking is the public understanding of the system relationship to lifestyle. It is in this role of the arranger, assembler, and educator for the system, that I see Landscape Architects and American Society of Landscape Architects fulfilling.

 

Will we see you in DC? August 26, 2010

Filed under: ASLA,Events,PPN Updates,SDD PPN — allegra bukojemsky @ 6:55 pm

We hope so! Every year we gather for education, celebration, recognition, networking and, of course having a little fun at the ASLA Annual Meeting and EXPO. This year in DC we hope to meet some of you that we haven’t met yet. The officers (and authors of this blog) will be hosting a meeting of the Sustainable Design and Development Professional Practice Network (SDD PPN) on Sunday Sept 12th at 5pm in 146 C, Street Level and we invite you to join us. In addition some of us officers are presenting and a few are becoming Fellows, so there are many opportunities to introduce yourself. Of course there is an amazing collection of education sessions, field trips and filed sessions on a wide variety of topics, many with a focus on sustainable design, others with sustainability as an underlying theme. Here is just a sampling of some that might be of interest (more…)

 

That’s roof-tacular! Personalize your garage with a green roof August 17, 2010

Filed under: ASLA,climate change,green roof,Habitat,Health & Wellbeing,Native Plants,projects,Residential,Stormwater,Urban — hunter beckham @ 8:00 am

Landscape Architects are continually being recognized as a resource for green roof design and consulting. The high-profile green roof designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates at our Societies Headquarters in Washington DC is no doubt our Flagship.  If you haven’t been to the ASLA Green Roof Page you should check it out. It is full of data, design information, resources and tells a great story about how ASLA is staying on top of the issues.  From there you can link to many other educational resources to learn more about the design process and benefits of green roofs.

Green Roof at ASLA Headquarters in Washington DC

An important point to make is that while the green roofs in public or commercial settings are outstanding they could be seen as relatively expensive, something to go see on a field trip.  Everyone should know that we can all have a slice of the green roof pie. I encourage any of you to share your own green roof stories from work or at home. I bet there are more landscape architects directly tied to this practice than we think. Let’s get started…

A few years ago it was time to rebuild my burned out garage one block from the Missouri Botanical Gardens where I live is St. Louis. So here’s how we started, aside from cleaning out all of the garbage and debris (including several skulls and other nasty things) we got a great builder who knew how to structure everything properly and worked directly with me and the waterproofing and roof membrane  representative to make sure there was a structurally sound water tight garage.

What happened over the next few years gets to the point of this post. ‘Everyone should have a green roof’ is a Face book post I made a few months back. It showed a handful of images from this spring with all the flowers popping out.  So instead of burdening face book with all of the green roof junkies it seemed a blog post would be the right setting for this. Skipping all of the construction images (that’s another blog) let’s just jump to some of the good stuff.  (more…)

 

Green Streets July 11, 2010

Filed under: ASLA,Regional,Resources,Stormwater,Urban — allegra bukojemsky @ 9:28 pm

If you don’t follow ASLA’s main blog The Dirt you might want to check it out. The most recent post is about a talk by the Mayor of Edmonston, Maryland, on his community’s innovative green street program.

 

Learning about sustainable design practices can gain you continuing education units July 11, 2010

Filed under: ASLA,Events,Resources,Sustainable Sites Initiative — allegra bukojemsky @ 8:40 pm

Did you know ASLA has a variety of ways you can earn continuing education units, and many can increase your knowledge of sustainable design? It’s true. Here are a few of the ways:

Attend the ASLA Annual Meeting in September in DC. Meeting attendees may earn continuing education credit with the Landscape Architecture Continuing Education System (LA CES), the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) by participating in the meeting education sessions, workshops, general sessions, tours, and field sessions, currently: (more…)

 

Greenhouse Gas Footprint of Maintained Landscapes June 8, 2010

Filed under: ASLA,climate change,Government Affairs,Irrigation,Lawn,Materials,O&M,Sustainable Sites Initiative — Jana McKenzie, AECOM Principal, ASLA, LEED AP @ 1:50 pm

You probably know by now that burning fossil fuels to heat your home, run your appliances and drive your vehicles creates carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (GHG), but you may not have thought about the GHG produced with watering, mowing and fertilizing landscapes.  The problem is that there are not good tools for calculating this. Carbon and other GHG calculators do not typically include the embodied energy of water nor landscape maintenance in their equations. (more…)

 

Federal Advocacy and Sustainability May 12, 2010

Filed under: ASLA,Government Affairs,Health & Wellbeing,Stormwater,Urban — hunter beckham @ 1:24 pm

ASLA Advocacy Day 2010 was a huge success!  Did you know that ASLA advocates from most chapters went to DC on last month to lobby on a variety of legislation? This year there was a total of 409 meetings with legislators and congressional staffers, where ASLA advocates urged support for H.R. 3734, the Urban Revitalization and Livable Communities Act  and H.R. 4202, the Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act

Both pieces of legislation support sustainability in a variety of ways and you can learn more about the Issue, Background & Analysis, Sponsors Current Status and History on the provided links. You can also read a more detailed review of advocacy day in LAND

Please visit the links above and see what else ASLA is doing that relates to our interest in sustainability. Is there something in your region ASLA should have their eye on?

 

Residential Landscape Architecture and Sustainability April 23, 2010

Filed under: ASLA,Residential,Sustainable Sites Initiative — allegra bukojemsky @ 5:20 pm

A well designed residential landscape can not only create beautiful vistas from within the house and comfortable rooms for outdoor living, but can also significantly increase the real estate value of a home and neighborhood. But wait there’s more! Did you know that carefully placed plants can also significantly reduce your homes heating and cooling energy needs?  Provide food for your family and friends?

However, not all landscapes are created equal; in fact many landscapes are far from green. (more…)

 

April is Landscape Architecture Month March 31, 2010

Filed under: ASLA,Resources,Sustainable Sites Initiative — allegra bukojemsky @ 3:01 pm

This is the month we should take some time to share with others just how important and gratifying the profession of landscape architecture is. This is the time to introduce and help others understand the importance of this field; that it can have lasting positive impacts, improving ecology, health,  and culture.

There are a variety of ways you can do this from volunteering your time and services, speaking out on behalf of the profession, and introducing the profession to the younger generations.

One simple activity is simply sharing a copy of Landscape Architecture Magazine, April’s electronic issue is free. 

Or help spread the word about the Sustainable Sites Initiative by sharing the Landscapes Give Back Brochure or the more in depth Case for Sustainable Sites

For more ideas of what to do, or find out about planned events in your area visit the ASLA National Landscape Architecture Month 2010 resource page which includes links to useful information including career discovery resources, planned events and activities across the US, YouTube videos and more.

For activities related to introducing younger students to the profession ASLA offers activity guides that provide step-by-step instructions for presenting and planning particular projects and topics to students. A couple that we like include:

 

What does a sustainable landscape look like? March 25, 2010

Filed under: ASLA,projects,Resources,Sustainable Sites Initiative — allegra bukojemsky @ 8:48 pm

ASLA has a web page that highlights a sampling of projects from small private residences to large public infrastructure. Or check out some of the Sustainable Sites Initiative case studies.

 

Want to follow us on Twitter? March 12, 2010

Filed under: ASLA,Resources,tweets — allegra bukojemsky @ 6:18 pm

You can follow this blog along with other ASLA tweets @landarchitects

 

SDD PPN Membership Survey Results March 11, 2010

Filed under: ASLA,PPN Updates,SDD PPN — Ruth Stafford @ 12:32 pm

Members of ASLA’s Sustainable Design and Development Professional Practice Network (SDD PPN) were invited to complete a survey in November 2009. The survey had the following goals:

  • Determine reasons for joining the SDD PPN
  • Find out about members’ awareness of PPN online resources
  • Gauge level of interest that PPN members have in actively participating in the PPN

Over ten percent of the SDD PPN membership responded, with 285 members completing the survey. Following are some highlights of the responses. (more…)

 

 
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