Resilience in landscape architecture

Resilient designs
• Working with nature to….
• Aim: to communities become
more resilient and come back
stronger after disruptive
natural events.

• Long-term resilience is about

continuously bouncing back cope with “new normal.”
and regenerating.
Resilient design principles
• Multi-layered systems
• diverse elements
• scalable elements

Contemporary issues in landscape architecture

• Biodiversity Loss
• Drought
• Extreme Heat
• Fire
• Flooding
• Landslides
• This is truly a once-in-a-century opportunity and this landscape
architect has really stepped up to the plate. The client has also
gone beyond the call of duty--this is a heroic story. It shows the
value of sustainable landscape architecture in addressing a
couple of hundred years of impact.”
—2010 Professional Awards Jury
Biodiversity loss
• Humans rely on nature
resources and services
• Biodiversity loss has a severe
impact on these ecosystem
services, therefore, the need for:
• long term resilience
• General human well-being

Maintaining biodiversity in these systems is critical to their survival, as diversity is

central to system resilience and function.
How Resilient Planning and Design Helps?

• Accommodate wildlife and native plants.

• Services that natural ecosystems provide should be taken into account
when planning new agriculture and development.
• Agriculture should prioritize ecological health and plant diversity.
• Restorative tactics, such as the design of wildlife corridors and habitat
restoration.
Role of the
Landscape Architect

• Landscape architects can design for the needs of

communities and healthy ecosystems
• Landscape architects can design corridors that
are not only public parks but also facilitate
wildlife movement through human
developments
• Landscape architects can design plant
communities and ecosystems that are not only
beautiful but also increase ecosystem services.
• In addition, designers can adapt these designed
ecosystems to the stresses of urban life, using
the approaches of biophilic urbanism.
Orongo Station Conservation
Master Plan
Poverty Bay, North Island,
New Zealand

•The master plan for Orongo

Station (which includes Maraetaha
and Mapere Station) encompasses
3,000 acres and weaves together
multiple ecological restoration
strategies with a working sheep
farm and a rich cultural landscape.
• A closer view of the Teruri and
Orongo Wetland illustrates the
hybrid landscape of Orongo
Station. This unique
integration serves as a model
for New Zealand farming
operations and restoration
efforts.
• An audio speaker system
attracts the grey-faced Petrel
to nest and breed the first
success of its kind in the
world.
• The 1,640-foot-long
Excluder Fence
includes a flange at the
top to discourage
climbing.
• The planning of the
wetland included careful
arrangement and sizing
of the islands to provide
particular habitat for
birds and other animals.
The steep banks help
provide protection from
predators during critical
nesting periods.
• A typical Orongo Station
reforestation planting.
Planters brace the steep
slopes to drill, spot spray,
and plant the
reforestation-grade
seedlings. Each stake
represents a single plant
that will quickly provide
cover for the next stage of
succession.
• The master plan realigned roads and
organized agricultural fields to
celebrate an existing Maori cemetery
and sacred ground in the middle of
the image. A new entrance garden,
wood carved gate, and planting of the
site will be completed in 2011.
• Master plan of the Maraetaha River
floodplain incorporating ecological
restoration, the cultural landscape,
and working farm components.
• The redesign of the Maraetaha River floodplain included the
design and placement of a bridge, layout of the farm road
and work yards, and the establishment of the agricultural
patterns. By collaborating with farms, a relationship to the
broader landscape was accomplished.
Green Roof
Innovation
Testing (GRIT)
Laboratory
University of To
ronto, John H. D
aniels Faculty of
Architecture, La
ndscape, and De
sign, Toronto, O
ntario, Canada
• Four testing parameters include: 1)
growing media type (inorganic/ high
organic), 2) growing media depth (4
in./ 6 in.), 3) plant mix (sedum/ grass
and forb), and 4) irrigation regimes
(none/ timed/ soil-moisture sensor
activated).
RESILIENT
DESIGN:
EXTREME
HEAT
Green infrastructure for extreme heat
• Trees are nature’s amazing cooling devices: they release water
moisture, provide shade, and create micro-climates.
• Other designed green infrastructure -- green roofs, green streets, rain
gardens, and parks -- can offer similar benefits.
• While a patchwork of trees, gardens, and green roofs cannot decrease
temperatures, a system of them, combined with other tactics, such as
the use of light-colored building materials, can be effective
Resilient Solutions
• Vegetation planted to cool down cities also helps manage stormwater,
provide habitat for wildlife, and give streets character.
• Green roofs can provide many benefits – in addition to cooling the air,
they can insulate the building, reduce building energy consumption,
absorb stormwater, provide wildlife habitat, and create social space.
• Green infrastructure also creates lots of good local jobs installing and
maintaining these systems.
Landscape architects role
• greening our cities and communities in order to make them cooler.
• Landscape architects can identify the tree and plant species best suited
to generate a cooling effect while minimizing harmful volatile organic
compounds (VOCs).
• Working with planners and arborists, they create urban forest plans
and design and implement these systems.
Contrasting Shade: Building a
Sustainable Urban Grove at Central
Wharf Plaza
Boston
• Reverse view of the arcing granite
seatwall that defines the garden
space and allows accessible routes
between the plaza and the
surrounding sidewalks.
• Trees extend directly from a dry laid
paving..
• Small scale LEDs hung from within
the canopy animate the groundplane.
Stuttgart: combating the heat island effect and poor air quality with
ventilation corridors and green-blue infrastructure

Stuttgart’s location in a valley basin, its mild climate, low wind speeds, industrial activity and high volume of traffic
has made the city highly susceptible to poor air quality.

Challenges: The city's location has a significant influence on its local climate including implications for air
temperature, humidity, precipitation and wind. Stuttgart sits in the wide Neckar basin formed by two river valleys,
shielded by steep hill slopes. Stuttgart's centre is located at about 240m above sea level (a.s.l.), while the
surrounding hills rise to 500m a.s.l.

Stuttgart has a mild, temperate climate with warm summers. Wind speeds throughout the city are generally low,
which along with the urban heat island effect, contributes to poor air quality.
 • One of the primary objectives for the region
of Stuttgart is to facilitate air exchange in the
city, thereby enhancing the potential for cool
air flow from the hills towards the urban
areas on the valley floor. The city also aims
to protect the urban natural areas, increase
objectives the extension of greenery and promote the
implementation of green and blue
infrastructures. All together, these strategies
aim to improve Stuttgart adaptation to hotter
summer and more frequent heatwaves due to
climate change.
 Adaptation
Options
Integration of Using water to Climate proofi Urban green in
Implemented climate change cope with heat ng of buildings frastructure pl
In This Case adaptation in l waves in cities against excessi anning and nat
and use planni ve heat ure-based solu
ng tions