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Archive for May, 2011

Bolivia Expected to Protect Rights of Nature

Posted in Climate Change, Ecosystem Restoration, Ecosystem Services, Policy and Regulation, Water Management on 05/31/2011 | 5 Comments »

Bolivia is expected to pass the world’s first comprehensive law to protect the rights of nature, granting all nature equal rights to humans. According to The Guardian, the new “Law of Mother Earth” would lead to “radical new conservation and social measures” designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pollution, and hem in “mega-projects.” Nature would get 11 new [...]

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Reinventing Public Place in NYC: Brooklyn Bridge Park

Posted in Landscape Architecture, Urban Design, Urban Revitalization on 05/31/2011 | Leave a Comment »

Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) hosted a symposium at the unlikely location of the open-air Tobacco Warehouse under the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, part of the 85-acre Brooklyn Bridge Park, designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh, FASLA. The half-day affair was organized to celebrate the completion of the first phase of the park through [...]

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New Pier Park in Philadelphia “Packs a Wallop”

Posted in Landscape Architecture, Public Spaces, Urban Design, Urban Revitalization on 05/26/2011 | 1 Comment »

In The Philadelphia Enquirer, Marilyn Jordan Taylor, dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Design, said the new one-acre, 540-foot long, $6.5 million pier park designed by James Corner Field Operations ”packs a wallop” and changes the “central Delaware riverfront from an overlooked backwater into the front door to our city and region.” Formerly called “Municipal Pier [...]

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Using Nature to Reinvent Cities

Posted in Ecosystem Services, Green Buildings, Landscape Architecture, Public Spaces, Urban Design, Urban Revitalization on 05/25/2011 | 4 Comments »

Dan Kaplan, who runs the urban design practice for FXFOWLE, argued for integrating innovative green designs into buildings and streets at a session at the National Building Museum. To reinvent cities, planners, landscape architects, and architects can create “regenerative places” that provide multiple benefits. The two major U.S. development models – Orange County, California, and New York City – present [...]

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Interview with Lyanda Lynn Haupt, Author of “Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness”

Posted in Ecosystem Restoration, Ecosystem Services, Landscape Architecture, Urban Design, Wildlife on 05/24/2011 | 2 Comments »

Lyanda Lynn Haupt is an award-winning author, speaker, and naturalist based in Seattle. Her latest book, Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness, which David Sedaris called “completely charming and informative,” received the 2010 Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award. Haupt blogs at The Tangled Nest. Your new book, Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom from [...]

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Piet Oudolf Sees Landscapes in Landscapes

Posted in Gardens, Landscape Architecture, Water Management, Wildlife on 05/19/2011 | Leave a Comment »

Piet Oudolf, the Dutch garden designer and leader of the “new perennial” movement has a new book out: Landscapes in Landscapes. In his complex, endlessly interesting landscapes, Oudolf says he prizes form and texture as much as color. He almost exclusively uses perennials, which he values for their “beauty throughout their natural life cycle.” Requiring little maintenance, his [...]

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Lang Baumann’s Art Transforms Public Spaces

Posted in Land Art, Public Spaces on 05/18/2011 | 3 Comments »

Sabina Lang and Daniel Baumann are a pair of Swiss artists who have formed a “multidisciplinary studio” to create a variety of bold and playful public art installations. In the typical Swiss ski town of Vercorin, Lang Baumann transformed an intersection into Street Painting #5. The 100 by 60 meter art piece was created using “road marking paint.” [...]

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New CDC Community Focuses on Health Impact Assessments

Posted in Policy and Regulation on 05/18/2011 | Leave a Comment »

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has launched a free Community of Practice for planners, landscape architects, architects, and other design professionals conducting health impact assessments (HIA). According to CDC, the mission of their new Web site is to “increase the use of HIA to inform policy decisions that shape the built environment and make healthy lifestyle choices easy choices.” The health organization wants [...]

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How to Design a Bicycle City

Posted in Landscape Architecture, Sustainable Transportation, Urban Design, Urban Revitalization, Water Management on 05/17/2011 | 2 Comments »

Washington, D.C. has moved from the bottom of the rankings to being a top 10 bicycle-friendly city in just ten years. A group of experts, including Jim Sebastian, Washington, D.C. Department of Transportation, Jennifer Toole, ASLA, Toole Design Group, and Shane Farthing, Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) explained how the city did it at an event at the National Building Museum. [...]

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Green Buildings Key to Reducing Energy Use and Climate Impacts

Posted in Climate Change, Green Buildings, Policy and Regulation, Sustainable Design, Sustainable Materials on 05/12/2011 | Leave a Comment »

In a session at the U.S. Green Building Council’s government summit, Niclas Svenningsen, Sustainable Buildings & Climate Initiative, United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), said the global building market is expected to grow from $7.2 trillion to $12 trillion in just the next few decades. New or renovated building growth is centered in China, India, the U.S., Indonesia, Russia, and [...]

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