PLANNING 1

SITE PLANNING AND

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
Module 1.1 – knowledge, skills and values
What is
site planning?
What is site planning?
An art of arranging structures on the land
and shaping the spaces between, an art
linked to architecture, engineering,
landscape architecture and city planning.

-Kevin Lynch
Site planning is a location-specific,
problem-solving endeavor. Creating a
sustainable and livable place within the
built environment.
Good site planning requires not only a broad
set of skills and knowledge but also the
ethics and values to protect critical
environmental areas and create sustainable
and livable places.
Good or bad?

Ignores pedestrian needs, vehicle circulation

conflicts, increase human exposure to natural
hazards, or degrade environmental quality.
If the site’s existing conditions are poorly understood,
the site’s development can result in detrimental
environmental, social, and economic impacts.
Utilized in ways that are functionally efficient,
aesthetically pleasing, and environmentally sustainable.
Site-planning projects:
1. Projects with no buildings - parks, greenways, and other
active and/or passive recreation or nature conservation
areas.
2. Projects with one building
3. Projects with two or more buildings - one or more
commercial or residential building
In Designing the City: A Guide for Advocates
and Public Officials, interviews with mayors,
real estate developers, and other individuals
expressed strong opinions about the value of
good design in the built environment (Bacow,
1995), as follows;
Value of good design in the built
environment
✓‘‘Good design promotes public health, safety, and welfare.’’

✓‘‘Good design makes a city work better, not just look better.’’

✓‘‘Good design attracts people to a city, and those people help pay for
essentials that help instill pride and satisfaction in what citizens get
for their taxes.’’

✓‘‘Well-designed (real estate) products will succeed in tight markets

where poorly designed products will not.’’
Good site planning!
1.Social – safety, security, and freedom
2.Economic – public investment
3.Environment – health and sustainability

Good design that is sustainable can reduce the long-term

life-cycle costs of operating and maintaining buildings,
infrastructure, and sites within the built environment.
PLANNING 1
SITE PLANNING AND
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
Module 1.1 – knowledge, skills and values