Urban design

Urban design concerns the arrangement, appearance and functionality of towns and cities, and in particular the shaping and uses of safe public space. It has traditionally been regarded as a disciplinary subset of urban planning, landscape architecture, or architecture and in more recent times has been linked to emergent disciplines such as landscape urbanism. However, with its increasing prominence in the activities of these disciplines, it is better conceptualized as a design practice that operates at the intersection of all three, and requires a good understanding of a range of others besides, such as urban economics, political economy and social theory.
Urban design theory deals primarily with the design and management of public space (i.e. the 'public environment', 'public realm' or 'public domain'), and the way public places are experienced and used. Public space includes the totality of spaces used freely on a day-to-day basis by the general public, such as streets, plazas, parks and public infrastructure. Some aspects of privately owned spaces, such as building facades or domestic gardens, also contribute to public space and are therefore also considered by Urban design theory. Important writers on, and advocates for, urban design theory include Christopher Alexander, Michael E. Arth, Edmund Bacon, Peter Calthorpe, Gordon Cullen, Andres Duany, Jane Jacobs, Jan Gehl, Kevin Lynch, Roger Montgomery, Aldo Rossi, Colin Rowe, Robert Venturi, William H. Whyte, Bill Hillier, and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk.
While the two fields are closely related, 'urban design' differs from 'urban planning' in its focus on physical improvement of the public environment, whereas the latter tends, in practice, to focus on the management of private development through planning schemes and other statutory development controls.
Public spaces are frequently subject to overlapping management responsibilities of multiple public agencies or authorities and the interests of nearby property owners, as well as the requirements of multiple and sometimes competing users. The design, construction and management of public spaces therefore typically demands consultation and negotiation across a variety of spheres. Urban designers rarely have the degree of artistic liberty or control sometimes offered in design professions such as architecture. It also typically requires interdisciplinary input with balanced representation of multiple fields including engineering, ecology, local history, and transport planning.
Much urban design work is undertaken by urban planners, landscape architects and architects but there are professionals who identify themselves specifically as urban designers. Many architecture, landscape and planning programs incorporate urban design theory and design subjects into their curricula and there are an increasing number of university programs offering degrees in urban design, usually at post-graduate level.
Urban design considers:

• Urban structure – How a place is put together and how its parts relate to each other
• Urban typology, density and sustainability - spatial types and morphologies related to intensity of use, consumption of resources and production and maintenance of viable communities
• Accessibility – Providing for ease, safety and choice when moving to and through places

• Legibility and wayfinding – Helping people to find their way around and understand how a place works
• Animation – Designing places to stimulate public activity
• Function and fit – Shaping places to support their varied intended uses
• Complementary mixed uses – Locating activities to allow constructive interaction between them
• Character and meaning – Recognizing and valuing the differences between one place and another
• Order and incident – Balancing consistency and variety in the urban environment in the interests of appreciating both
• Continuity and change – Locating people in time and place, including respect for heritage and support for contemporary culture
• Civil society – Making places where people are free to encounter each other as civic equals, an important component in building social capital

Click here for more reading on Urban Design: Urban Design by Alex Krieger and William S. Saunders.

Landscape Architecture

Landscape architecture deals with the design of outdoor as well as public spaces to achieve environmental, aesthetic, and behavioral outcomes. Landscape Architecture takes into consideration the social, ecological, and geological conditions of a space and then carefully accentuates or manipulates the space into a design that causes a desired outcome with those in or around the space. The scope of the profession includes urban design, site planning, City or urban planning, environmental restoration, parks and recreation planning; green infrastructure planning and provision, all at varying scales of design, planning and management. A practitioner in the field of landscape architecture is called a landscape architect.

What Landscape architects do? (Source: ASLA.org)

Landscape architecture encompasses the analysis, design, management, planning, and stewardship of the natural and built environments. Types of projects include:

• Academic campuses
• Conservation
• Corporate and commercial
• Gardens and arboreta
• Historic preservation and restoration
• Hospitality and resorts
• Institutional
• Interior landscapes
• Land planning
• Landscape art and earth sculpture
• Monuments
• Parks and recreation
• Reclamation
• Residential
• Security design
• Streetscapes and public spaces
• Therapeutic gardens
• Transportation corridors and facilities
• Urban design
• Water resources.

Landscape architects have advanced education and professional training and are licensed in Landscape Architecture in 49 states of the 50 states.

For an extensive history on Landscape Architecture and its cultural and architectural background: Landscape Design: A Cultural and Architectural History by Elizabeth Barlow Rogers.

Sustainability

Sustainability, in a broad sense, is the capacity to endure. It can be defined in biological terms as the ability of an ecosystem to maintain ecological processes, functions, biodiversity and productivity into the future.

With that being said; “nearly 80 percent of U.S. residents live in urban environments and such areas are continuing to grow. How and where urban development occurs can affect ecosystem quality and services, habitat protection, water resources, energy consumption, and indoor and outdoor air quality.”

The U.S. National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 declared as its goal a national policy to "create and maintain conditions under which [humans] and nature can exist in productive harmony, and fulfill the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations of Americans."

Sustainability is being pushed so we can develop ways to reduce use of natural resources and improve indoor environments while reducing emissions from buildings of greenhouse gases and other harmful pollutants.

One of the leaders in this movement is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). They have developed programs and resources for helping states and local communities promote urban sustainability by supporting smart growth projects, green building and infrastructure design, energy efficiency in homes and commercial buildings, and development of sustainability metrics for urban development.

Many companies are now pursuing the goal of sustainability realizing that protecting the environment makes good business sense. Many EPA programs have anticipated and contributed to advancing sustainability concepts, some of the most prominent of these programs are: EnergyStar and WaterSense.

There are many different ways in we each of us can contribute to living a more sustainable lifestyle. Here are some EPA sites with suggestions and tips on how you can contribute to sustainability in your roles as a consumer and citizen, and as a steward of the environment:

• Adopt Your Watershed
• Drive Wise
• Energy Star
• Green Communities
• Healthy Lawn, Healthy Environment (PDF)
• Conserve Water and Use It Effectively
• Produce Less Waste by the 3 Rs - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
• Sustainable Landscaping (PDF)

For more information about how you can help make a sustainable community: Toward Sustainable Communities: Resources for Citizens and Their Governments by Mark Roseland.

Green Building

A sustainable building, or green building is an outcome of a design philosophy which focuses on increasing the efficiency of resource use — energy, water, and materials — while reducing building impacts on human health and the environment during the building's lifecycle, through better siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal. Though green building is interpreted in many different ways, a common view is that they should be designed and operated to reduce the overall impact of the built environment on human health and the natural environment by:

• Efficiently using energy, water, and other resources
• Protecting occupant health and improving employee productivity
• Reducing waste, pollution and environmental degradation

A similar concept to green building is natural building, which is usually on a smaller scale and tends to focus on the use of natural materials that are available locally. Other related topics include sustainable design, green architecture, and energy efficient buildings.
Green building brings together a vast array of practices and techniques to reduce and ultimately eliminate the impacts of buildings on the environment and human health. It often emphasizes taking advantage of renewable resources, e.g., using sunlight through passive solar, active solar, and photovoltaic techniques and using plants and trees through green roofs, rain gardens, and for reduction of rainwater run-off. Many other techniques, such as using packed gravel or permeable concrete instead of conventional concrete or asphalt to enhance replenishment of ground water, are used as well. Effective green buildings are more than just a random collection of environmental friendly technologies, however. They require careful, systemic attention to the full life cycle impacts of the resources embodied in the building and to the resource consumption and pollution emissions over the building's complete life cycle. Before focusing on materials and techniques, some believe that the first priority for green building is to reduce the building's demand on resources and energy, and recognize the direct relationship between a building's size and its demands.
On the aesthetic side of green architecture or sustainable design is the philosophy of designing a building that is in harmony with the natural features and resources surrounding the site. There are several key steps in designing sustainable buildings: specify 'green' building materials from local sources, reduce loads, optimize systems, and generate on-site renewable energy.

Materials

Building materials typically considered to be 'green' include rapidly renewable plant materials like bamboo (because bamboo grows quickly) and straw, lumber from forests certified to be sustainably managed, ecology blocks, dimension stone, recycled stone, recycled metal, and other products that are non-toxic, reusable, renewable, and/or recyclable (e.g. Trass, Linoleum, sheep wool, panels made from paper flakes, compressed earth block, adobe, baked earth, rammed earth, clay, vermiculite, flax linen, sisal, seagrass, cork, expanded clay grains, coconut, wood fibre plates, calcium sand stone, concrete (high and ultra high performance, roman self-healing concrete, etc.) The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) also suggests using recycled industrial goods, such as coal combustion products, foundry sand, and demolition debris in construction projects Polyurethane heavily reduces carbon emissions as well. Polyurethane blocks are being used instead of CMTs by companies like American Insulock. Polyurethane blocks provide more speed, less cost, and they are environmentally friendly.
Building materials should be extracted and manufactured locally to the building site to minimize the energy embedded in their transportation as well.
For more information about Green Building: Green Building A to Z: Understanding the Language of Green Building by Jeffy Yudelson.

Botanical Gardens

Botanical gardens primarily have been created to monitor, categorize, and document growth, and habits for scientific purposes. Botanists and horticulturalists tend and maintain the garden's vast library and herbarium of plants and plant material. Botanical gardens often also serve to entertain and educate the public, upon whom many depend for funding. Not all botanical gardens are open to the public: for example the Chelsea Physic Garden. According to the Botanic Gardens Conservation International, "Botanic gardens are institutions holding documented collections of living plants for the purposes of scientific research, conservation, display and education."

Starting in the 18th century, European botanical gardens sent plant-collecting expeditions to various parts of the world and published their findings. Voyages of exploration routinely included botanists for this purpose. Subsequent scientific work studied how these exotic plants might be adapted to grow in the garden's locale, how to classify them, and how to propagate rare or endangered species. The Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, near London, has continuously published journals and more recently catalogues and databases since this time.

For more reading on botanical gardens: Great Botanic Gardens of the World by Sara Oldfield.

National Gardening Association

The National Gardening Association (NGA), founded in 1973, is a nonprofit leader in plant-based education. The NGA provides any with materials engineered to develop an appreciation for the benefits of gardening to a society.

The National Gardening Association's thought is that "plants have the power to change our lives. They enable the simple and therapeutic pleasure of working in one’s own garden. They play a basic role in providing clean air and serve as a nutritious basis for healthy living. And they are uniquely effective teaching tools." The National Gardening Association has been working for over 30 years to sustain and renew the connection between people, plants, and the environment through the principles taught in gardening.

The NGA's programs and initiatives seek to highlight the opportunities for plant-based education in schools, communities, and personal backyards throughout the United States. They strive to serve as a connection from people to gardening in five core fields:

• Plant-based Education
• Health and Wellness
• Environmental Stewardship
• Community Development
• Responsible Home Gardening

National Gardening Association's Core Fields of Emphasis

• Plant-Based Education
• Health and Wellness
• Community Development
• Home Gardening

General Programs and Activities of the NGA

• Adopt a School Garden® Program
• Curriculum Guides & Resources
• Gardening with Kids Resource Catalog
• Grants & Awards Programs
• Industry & Corporate Partners
• Media Outreach
• Research Services & Support
• Teacher Professional Development
• Vermont Garden Park

Web Sites

• Visit www.garden.org (National Gardening Association's site)or www.kidsgardening.org for a full appreciation of our virtual garden community.
  

For more reading on Gardening with Children: Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots: Gardening Together with Children. By Sharon Lovejoy.

Allotment Garden

Allotment gardens are a type of community garden, however allotment gardens are highly concentrated in one place that can span up to several hundreds of land parcels. These parcels are assigned to individuals or families, and each parcel is cultivated individually, whereas, most community gardens are tended collectively by a group of people.

In allotment gardens a parcel for an individual size can range any where between 200 and 400 square meters, and most plots include sheds for tools and shelters. The land for allotment gardens is leased from the owner (whether they be private, public, or government,) to the individual(s), providing the land be used strictly for gardening. Gardeners pay a small membership fee to the associated owner, and like in all community gardens must abide by the rules governing use of the property.

Allotment gardens are most widely found throughout Europe and the Philippines and can be found often on the outer rim of larger cities and towns.

Purpose of Allotment Gardens:

"The Office International du Coin de Terre et des Jardins Familiaux, a Luxembourg-based organization representing three million European allotment gardeners since 1926, describes the socio-cultural and economic functions of allotment gardens as follows:"

• for the community a better quality of urban life through the reduction of noise, the binding of dust, the establishment of open green spaces in densely populated areas;
• for the environment the conservation of biotopes and the creation of linked biotopes;
• for families a meaningful leisure activity and the personal experience of sowing, growing, cultivating and harvesting healthy vegetables amidst high-rise buildings and the concrete jungle;
• for children and adolescents a place to play, communicate and to discover nature and its wonders;
• for working people relaxation from the stress of work;
• for the unemployed the feeling of being useful and not excluded as well as a supply of fresh vegetables at minimum cost;
• for immigrant families a possibility of communication and better integration in their host country;
• for disabled persons a place enabling them to participate in social life, to establish contacts and overcome loneliness;
• for senior citizens a place of communication with persons having the same interests as well as an opportunity of self-fulfillment during the period of retirement.

Zen Gardens

The origin of Zen gardens are drawn back to the religion of Zen Buddhism. Zen gardens also know as Japanese rock gardens or "dry landscape" gardens were places inside of Zen temples of Meditation where the priests would go to both meditate and contemplate things of both the physical and spiritual nature.
The surroundings of a Japanese garden such as the buildings, tsukiyama (artificial hills), paths, terraces, and stone compositions determine its structure or framework. These gardens are constantly changing or are what would be called a living work of art, due to the fact that nature changes with the weather, climate, and seasons. Plants and trees are constantly pruned and sculpted to create a new experience for those experiencing it; hence, the phrase "A Japanese or Zen garden is never the same and never really finished."

A Zen Garden must be carefully maintained by those skilled in the art of training and pruning, or over time, it will lose the static effect the artists are trying to maintain.

All parts of the Zen Garden are symbolic of a greater feature in nature. The act of raking gravel into patterns recalls waves or rippling water, and helps the priests focus their concentration as they seek perfection in the lines of rocks. The patterns are not static though as they develop variations in patterns to create a greater experience. The stone arrangements represent mountains and other miniature elements portray natural water elements, rivers, waterfalls, and islands. Forest covered land is represented in the use of moss. The use of stone can also sometimes be used to symbolize boats, or even people as well.
The Sakuteiki "Creating a Garden", the most influential garden book for Japanese garden design outlines the art or act of "setting stones upright", ishi wo taten koto. When the Sakuteiki was written, the act of gardening was the placement of stones.

"Make sure that all the stones, right down to the front of the arrangement, are placed with their best sides showing. If a stone has an ugly-looking top you should place it so as to give prominence to its side. Even if this means it has to lean at a considerable angle, no one will notice. There should always be more horizontal than vertical stones. If there are 'running away' stones there must be 'chasing' stones. If there are 'leaning' stones, there must be 'supporting' stones."

"The influence of Zen on garden design was (probably) first described as such by Kuck in the early 20th century and disputed by Kuitert by the end of that century. What is not disputed is the fact that karesansui garden scenery was (and still is) inspired (or even based on) originally Chinese and later also Japanese, landscape paintings." -Wikipedia

Influential Zen Gardens:

One of the most well known Japanese rock gardens is the garden at Ryoan-ji in northwest Kyoto, Japan. Another well know Zen garden is: Suizenji Koen in Kumamoto City, Kumamoto Prefecture Japan.

For more information on the art of the Japanese or Zen Gardens: The art of the Japanese GardenThe Art of the Japanese Garden by David Young, Michiko Young, Tan Hong Yew, or the most influential book on Zen Gardens: Sakuteiki: Visions of the Japanese Garden by Jiro Takei, and Marc P. Keane.

Planting Design

Throughout history planting design has adapted or mirrored the needs of the civilization in which it is used. It is an aspect of the history of gardening as well as the history of landscape architecture.

Planting design in ancient gardens was often medicinal plants mixed with fruits, and vegetables for food and flowers for decoration. Then starting with the Renaissance planting designs moved towards the the aesthetic view of the culture. The two styles which emerged during this period, were formal planting design and naturalistic planting design. These require a knowledge of the culture and ecological setting of the area, as well as a level of horticultural knowledge. The designs were predominantly geometrical (trying to gain some stability in the changing world around them,) and plants were used to form patterns.

Naturalistic planting design originated as early as 200 B.C. in the more eastern areas of the world, namely China, Japan, and India. In the West, the picturesque movement strongly influenced the arrangement of plants in informal groups. These arrangements fit into the landscape garden style.

Planting designs or planting plans now give specific instructions about; size and spacing of plants, plant species to be used, soil preparations needed, and plant maintenance. These plants aid landscape designers, contractors, as well as private owners to develop a design and keep a record of the planting that have been made. Often a planting strategy will be developed to keep track of the long term outlook for the design.

Fundamentals of Planting Design

Plants are the focus of a garden, and as such need to be the main focus of the garden; As opposed to the non-living materials that form the exterior landscape spaces, (i.e. stone, wood,and other hardscape materials.) Plants are extremely dynamic and being such any great design must consider the seasons in which the plants flower and produce fruit, their growth and lifespan, as well as when they reproduce and mature.

The types of plants we choose and how they are arranged must satisfy both the function and purpose of the garden. Planting design is used to harmonize and accent the elements, materials, and qualities of a site; and a good planting design creates the feeling of nature or makes each plant appear as if they belong. It also allows us to experience nature on different levels.

For more information on planting design, and its principles: Planting Design Illustrated by Gang Chen.

Mixed Use Development

Mixed-use development is the practice of allowing more than one type of use in a building or set of buildings. In planning zone terms, this can mean some combination of residential, commercial, industrial, office, institutional, or other land uses.

Mixed-use development provides flexible, performance-based zoning standards. It allows residential uses integrated with commercial, employment, and civic uses in appropriate locations. Examples of this would be main streets, downtown areas, neighborhood centers, and other core places. Flexibility in the height of buildings, housing densities, lot coverages, yards being setback, landscaping, and other zoning provisions are all considered in mixed use developments. Where mixed-use development is permitted, codes should allow residential uses above or behind permitted commercial or civic uses, and the combination of compatible commercial uses (i.e. office, retail, entertainment, and services).

The idea behind Mixed use development is to also allow for small-scale commercial uses in residential neighborhoods thus allowing people to walk to nearby establishments for quick necessities, (i.e. a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, etc) rather than having to drive to the store.

Commercial development is constantly reinventing itself. After relocating in strip-malls, commercial development is now returning to America’s downtowns and main streets. These areas are experiencing a renaissance, as people seek more intimate and pedestrian-friendly shopping experiences. Suburban commercial centers and corridors, too, are being transformed. Some big box stores are evolving into mixed-use centers with entertainment uses, and malls are turning themselves “inside-out,” using storefronts that mimic traditional downtowns. Cities are converting brownfields into urban villages with housing, retail, entertainment, and civic uses, and e-commerce is spawning small businesses in old warehouses and along main streets. All of these innovations pose opportunities and challenges for managing growth in our communities.

Principles of Mixed Use Development:

• Efficient Use of Land Resources- Efficiency means urban development is compact and uses only as much land as is necessary.
• Full Utilization of Urban Services- Use existing service capacity where available, and make the most of our infrastructure investments. Where needed size new facilities to meet the needs of the population.
• Mixed Use- Mixed-use development brings compatible land uses closer together.
• Transportation Options- Walking, Bicycling, Public Transit, and Private Transit are all included in ones transit options making communities more friendly and unified.
• Human–Scale Design- Smart design is attractive design that is pedestrian–friendly and appropriate to community character and history. The objective is to design buildings to a human scale for aesthetic appeal, pedestrian comfort, and compatibility with other land uses.
  

Some of the benefits of Mixed Use Development are:

• Economic development
• Revitalization of main streets, downtowns, and neighborhood centers (reverting back to the city beautiful movement)
• Development of needed housing close to jobs and services; and the creation of jobs close to where people live
• Transportation choices and connectivity
• Walkable communities and transit-supportive development, causing a decrease in commuter congestion
• Energy conservation
  

Mixed Use Development is intended to bring order, clarity and a pleasing harmony to the urban places within the city; renewing the character, and feeling of community.

For complete information on Mixed Use Development practices: Mixed-Use Development Handbook by Dean Schwanke