Capacity utilization is a key term in business and an increasingly important term with regards to sustainability. The way in which cities utilise space is becoming a far more pressing issue in today’s world. The various ways space can be used inevitably forecasts a city’s future. In the United Kingdom, Nottingham leads the top twenty [...]
“In the elevators of the Empire State Building, you’d hear the elevators of the Eiffel Tower. The sounds of the Paris Metró are replaced with the sounds of the Bejing subway…If you don’t like Rome, you can make it sound like Dubai.” –Geoff Manaugh, The BldgBlog Book In this passage, author Geoff Manaugh introduces his [...]
A big Global Site Plans welcome to our newest blogger, Courtney McLaughlin from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Courtney McLaughlin is completing her undergraduate degree in Communication Studies at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. An avid traveler, her interests are public space modification in Canadian cities and sustainable urban planning. As an aspiring landscape [...]
Plant selection in the landscape is guided by four principles: function, aesthetics, site adaptability, and management. At small-scale sites like gardens or community parks, landscape architects can carefully choose every plant with desired plant size, color, texture, and so on. Is this scalable? Now, imagine a twenty-mile corridor which encompasses diverse land uses, multiple jurisdictions, and [...]
Trees are important for cities. Environmentally-speaking, trees provide important environmental inputs and outputs. Aesthetically-speaking, trees can provide a sense of beauty to a city. Planners and landscape architects have long-recognized the importance of trees and other plants in urban design.Tampa, Florida has a long-established grassroots organization that has helped bring trees to the city. The [...]
Neotraditionalist, or new urbanism design, is committed to pedestrian-friendly streets. Details for this type of urban design include mixed-use zoning, garages at the back of residential lots utilizing alleys, and retail areas located on the same secondary streets running throughout the development. Pedestrians and bicyclists become the main focus for this type of development, as [...]
As a pedestrian on a bicycling/walking path, you’ve probably grumbled as a bicyclist passed from behind without warning. Or maybe you’ve feared for your children’s safety as you’ve pulled them to the side of the path as bicyclists whizzed past without regard to their speed. On the other hand, as a bicyclist, chances are you [...]
The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) will hold its annual meeting and EXPO in San Diego, California, October 30 – November 2, 2011. According to their website, www.asla.org, more than 6,000 landscape architect professionals from the United States and around the world will be in attendance. Attendees will have the opportunity to earn up [...]
My professor recently told a story about an individual that was picking out trees for a landscape design he was working on. Of all the trees available to him at the nursery, he chose ones that had been improperly planted so that the soil and mulch covered the root flare and was piled too high [...]
In a previous blog, I wrote about the car-free suburb in Vauban, Germany. However, whether by intentional design or chance circumstances, quite a few other cities around the world continue to operate without automobile usage. Here is a selection of some of the more idiosyncratic car-free towns and cities around the world. Supai, Arizona is [...]
New Urbanism, among other movements, strives to make a community more walkable, while establishing a strong sense of community. While the design of New Urbanism communities can create an environment in which pedestrians are more welcome and neighbors can easily gather; this does not always promote a sense of togetherness. For various reasons, providing the [...]
Rain gardens can be found in several public spaces within Lincoln, Nebraska. Sometimes a sign is placed within the landscape, drawing attention to the rain garden and its usefulness to the environment. Unfortunately, not all of these gardens are maintained consistently to make them attractive. The city of Lincoln is actively promoting the installation of [...]
While Alvar Aalto is famous for his contributions to modernist architecture, he also designed and built numerous summer homes for his clients and himself. While most modern architects work with steel and concrete, Aalto focused on timber constructions and warm interiors with attention to detail. These cottages combine a modern aesthetic with traditional vernacular influences [...]
Like most urban areas, Lincoln, Nebraska, contains many farmers’ markets throughout the growing season. The biggest of these markets is open on Saturday mornings in the downtown Lincoln area. The market itself has become something of an event, attracting thousands of people each week, during its peak. Just last month, a new farmers’ market opened [...]
As much as I enjoy commuting to work and school on my bicycle, oftentimes I dislike riding it for regular errands. Incomplete streets, limited bicycle trails, and routes are one problem, but a lack of bicycle facilities are another. When you’re hopping out of your car to patronize stores at strip malls, do you ever [...]
Discovering the most cost-effective way to promote your landscape architecture or landscape design business, through a marketing plan, should always include the Internet. And if you’re trying to discover ways to drive traffic to your landscape architecture or landscape design business and website that are free, you’ve come to the right place. I searched Google.com [...]
