Sustainable Development is About Meeting the Needs of Today – Landscape Architecture, Case Study,, Singapore

Landscape and Sustainable Development

Introduction

Sustainable development is about meeting the needs of today without compromising the needs of future generations. It is about improving the standard of living by protecting human health, conserving the environment, using resources efficiently and advancing long-term economic competitiveness. It requires the integration of environmental, economic and social priorities into policies and programs and requires action at all levels – citizens, industry, and governments. (Environment Canada 2012)

Various guidelines have been developed to help designers in achieving sustainable designs for proposed projects. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is the best-known guide for “green” construction applied to individual buildings and to neighbourhoods. The Sustainable Sites Initiative (SSI) is an emerging set of guidelines that focus on landscape, preservation, and community issues. Both are important benchmarks for designers of all types.

Sustainable landscape design integrates natural processes within the development process, minimizes environmental impacts, and creates livable community places. Sustainable landscape settings rely on a careful reading of the physical components of a proposed site, but also on an understanding of the social and economic profile of the potential users of the site.

As our urban regions grow, certain sites benefit from better physical settings, from better social demographics and economic wealth, and from closer proximity to cultural and natural resources than others. How can our landscapes be sustained in the absence of some serious expression of social equity? What are some of the strategies that can be proposed to achieve sustainable sites in urban and rural landscape regions that are physically, economically, and socially disadvantaged?

Questions

1. What are the similarities between the LEED guidelines and the SSI guidelines, and how do they differ with respect to the treatment of landscape and site design?
2. What sustainable site design examples can you find in your region, and what factors contribute to their sustainability? Are the choices of materials appropriate? If so, why? If not, why not?
3. Is it feasible to incorporate green roofs, vegetative walls, and greenways in your region? If so, how? If not, what alternatives are available to meet LEED and SSI objectives?
4. To what extent do the examples suggested in this study unit differ from similar projects in your region? How do they respond to the opportunities and constraints of their landscape settings?
5. How do you feel about golf courses as sustainable landscape settings, now that you’ve almost completed this course?