The U.S. Green Building Council’s annual tradeshow, Greenbuild, takes place in Chicago’s McCormick Place this week with an estimated 20,000 professionals in attendance. In preparation for this event, the American Society of Landscape Architects released The Preliminary Report on the Standards and Guidelines for Sustainable Sites.
The report was compiled by an interdisciplinary group of experts involved in the design, construction and maintenance of landscapes. Contributions were made from experts in the fields of landscape architecture, horticulture, conservation, sustainable design, civil and environmental engineering, ecology, hydrology, forestry, soils, planning, public health, outdoor recreation, and other disciplines.
The report outlines the role of soils, hydrology, vegetation and materials to the environment, with details on the contribution that landscapes make toward climate regulation, clean air and water and improved quality of life. There’s an emphasis on a systems thinking approach to landscape design, and a goal of adaptive design that responds to demographic and environmental change.
The report emphasizes hierarchical thinking to, “Maximize and mimic the benefits of ecosystem services by preserving existing environmental features, conserving resources in a sustainable manner, and regenerating lost or damaged ecosystem services.”
While there’s brief mention of GIS for use in a site context overview, I believe GIS and integrated spatial technologies could become the collaborative tool at the center of the sustainable sites approach. In fact, software tools are essential to efficient and inclusive decision support.
The authors are actively seeking feedback to the content that has been presented in the preliminary report, with a deadline of Jan. 11, 2008. I believe there’s a strong opportunity here to influence this community about the benefits of integrated spatial tools as a decision support mechanism for systems thinking. Click here to become part of the review process.
The U.S. Green Building Council has committed to incorporating these guidelines and standards into the future evolution of the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System. Now is the time to act to raise awareness of the role of geospatial tools for multidisciplinary design and planning.
