This Week In Landscape | 17 February 2013

Cummins Inc | Columbus Indiana | Design by Dan Kiley | Image Credit | berriehol

Landscape links from around the world in the week that was
Dan Kiley: A great yet little known Modernist | Charles A. Birnbaum | Huffington Post
“Kiley was also among the most important, influential and personally idiosyncratic landscape architects of the 20th century and designer of more than 1,100 projects – yet today he is not well known.”

Now Atlanta Is Turning Old Tracks Green | Robby Brown | NY Times
“The BeltLine would be the most expensive rails-to-trails project, urban planners say. It would add 40 percent more parks to Atlanta. Only 4.6 percent of Atlanta is parkland….”

The World’s Largest Firms Have Been Ranked… But Does It Matter? | Vanessa Quirk | ArchDaily
“This Top 5 gives us a sense of the major players in the architectural world, but with the subjective ranking of their efficiency”

How to Make Suburbs Work Like Cities |  Trisha Riggs | Urban Land
The steady movement toward more compact suburban growth is being driven in part by generation Y, an 80 million–member demographic group that is entering the markets for housing and jobs.

Urban sprawl affects inner-ring suburbs, too | Don Jacobson | Star Tribune
“….residents of closer-in areas also say they “feel” those characteristics of sprawl in their neighborhoods despite their higher population densities, and a University of Minnesota researcher says a study she performed indicates their perception in many cases is indeed more than just a feeling.”

IMAGE CREDIT | Flickr user | berrihol | Holly Higgins

This Week in Landscape | 23 December 2012

Fresh Kills Park | Image Credit gsz


This week of landscape links as we head toward 2013

Staten Island Landfill Park Proves Savior in Hurricane | Michael Kimmelman | NY Times
During Hurricane Sandy, the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island absorbed a critical part of the storm surge.

Urban renewal for the planet | Adrian Higgins | Washington Post
From a wasteland of empty lots and rundown buildings has sprung whole blocks of plush apartments, hotel suites, offices and bistros.

Living with Sandy: New York and Our Very Real Climate Change Future | Urban Omnibus
Superstorm Sandy and its continuing messy aftermath have provoked many serious conversations about New York City’s future. These range from private concerns about flood insurance and temporary housing to more public anxieties about the city as a coastal metropolis.

2012′s Notable Developments in Landscape Architecture | Charles A. Birnbaum | Huffington Post
With that said, here’s my list of 2012′s notable developments in landscape architecture

Metro Vancouver tree damage worst since 2006 storm | CBC
A week of heavy rain, snow, and wind have wreaked havoc across the Vancouver and at least 200 trees have fallen in Pacific Spirit Park, which separates Vancouver’s western edge from the UBC campus.

New Website Puts Spotlight on Blue Carbon | UNEP
Marine ecosystems, such as mangrove forests, seagrass meadows and saltwater marshes, can capture and store a significant amount of atmospheric carbon.

A Biodiversity Map, Version 2.0 | Rachel Nuwer | NY Times
“We’re not inventing anything here, we’re just implementing Wallace’s vision at an age where we have tons of DNA and more information on where species are on the planet.”

IMAGE CREDIT | Flickr user gsz (Garrett Ziegler)

VIDEOS | Bridging the Nature-Culture Divide II Conference Proceedings


The Cultural Landscape Foundation has published the video proceedings of their recent conference Bridging the Nature-Culture Divide II. The conference co-sponsored with the Central Park Conservancy examined the critical design and maintenance issues faced at some of the nation’s premiere urban woodlands. Landscape Architecture academics and professionals presented material  Stewardship of Central Park’s Woodlands.

Presenters and Panellists include Christopher Nolan, Charles A. Birnbaum, FASLA, Eric W. Sanderson, Michael Boland, Todd Forrest, Christian Zimmerman, Elizabeth K. Meyer, Keith Bowers, Dennis C. McGlade, and Margie Ruddick. You can watch the full series on youtube

VIDEO CREDIT | The Cultural Landscape Foundation

This Week in Landscape | 4 November

This Week in Landscape 4 November

Fallen lindens at the Great Lawn in Central Park | Image Courtesy Central Park Conservancy

This weeks landscape links from across the world

A New Philanthropic Threshold — The Significance of Central Park’s Gift | Charles A. Birnbaum | Huffington Post

Philanthropy and public-private partnerships should not be faulted but encouraged, especially following Hurricane Sandy’s damage to the parks when it’s most needed.

Over 250 trees damaged in Central Park by Hurricane Sandy | Central Park Conservancy
Hurricane Sandy destroyed more than 250 mature trees in Central Park as well as infrastructure, including fencing and benches, throughout the Park’s 843 acres.

A post-hurricane argument about New York’s waterfront infrastructure | Dana Rubenstein | Capital New York
One of several strategies the RPA suggested exploring is tidal barriers, of the sort used in London and Rotterdam.

How to make a landscape edible look incredible | Mary James | UT San Diego
….integrate edibles within an ornamental “backbone.” This way there will always be something to look at, even when edibles have been harvested.

Iskandar – Asia’s newest megacity or a cookie cutter template for cities? | Damian Holmes | LAND Reader
There seems to be this constant rush for ‘experts’ and urban planners to create a ‘template’ for the green, low carbon, sustainable, (insert latest buzz word) city, and ignoring the reason many cities attract people.

 How cyclists and pedestrians can share space on canal towpaths | Laura Laker | Guardian
You are welcome to cycle here but you have got to do it with respect for others. That is what all cyclists need to hear loud and clear.”

Hurricane Sandy on Bikes in NYC from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.

This Week In Landscape | 16 September 2012


Another week of landscape links from around the world
The Big Task of Managing Nature at New York’s Central Park | Charles A. Birnbaum | The Cultural Landscape Foundation
“Central Park faces unprecedented use, along with changing climatic conditions and an onslaught of severe weather events. Additionally, increasing knowledge and proven notions about ecological restoration have added a new dimension to this century-and-a-half long conversation about how we interact with our environment and manage our idealized version of nature.”

Green walls ‘need building code’ to reduce fire hazard
“A SYDNEY landscape architect is pushing for green walls to be regulated under building and fire safety codes after he recently saw one go up in flames at a local bar.”

Urban Forestry for Symbolizing Eco-City | Md. Zahidur Rahman and Saeed Ahmed Siddiquee | Blitz
“Currently, unplanned urbanization resulted ecological imbalances in the city. FAO (2008) pointed out that Dhaka city has 21.57% open space where city parks belong to 0.89% and 0.02% for urban forest, garden for 0.90% and 12.12% for agriculture to meets the ecological balance of the city dwellers.”

African Ministers Adopt Programmes to Boost Sustainable Development, Eye Key Role in Post-Rio+20 Landscape | UNEP

What architects do doesn’t count | Jody Brown | Coffee with an Architect
“Because we don’t design the destination. We design the path.”

Fire-Resistant Plant List for the California Supplemental Exam | CSE for Landscape Architects
“These plants will eventually burn if the fire conditions are hot and dry enough, but they resist ignition better than many other species.”

Exploring the Upper West Side’s Riverside Park South | Curbed NY
“Riverside Park South offers up one of the Manhattan’s best opportunities to consider the city’s past as an industrial hub while considering the future of its waterfront. ”

IMAGE CREDIT: Flickr User Ed Yourdon

1 2