Sustainable landscape architecture
[3][4] Creating a sustainable landscape requires consideration of ecology, history, cultural associations, sociopolitical dynamics, geology, topography, soils, land use, and architecture.
[6] Goals of sustainable landscape architecture include a reduction of pollution, heightened water management and thoughtful vegetation choices.
[10] Olmsted began his career as an agricultural correspondent, before visiting England where he experienced and brought back ideas of English landscape design to the United States.
His projects encouraged the mingling of community members from different strata by creating communal passageways through the city.
His legacy is still lived in projects such as New York City’s Central Park, Boston’s Emerald Necklace and the U.S. Capitol Grounds.
[13] His ideas were revolutionary as he put the environmental restrictions at the forefront of landscape architecture, reasoning that a healthy living environment fosters occupant respect for their surroundings.
Whereas Western civilization focused on a human-centered built environment, Eastern countries used traditional philosophies that encourage the “unity of man and nature” to design landscapes.
Furthermore, this school of thought considers The Peach Blossom Spring ideal, which expresses the cultural desire for nature to be a healing oasis for humans.
Yin-yang emphasizes balance, and within the built environment, dictates that natural and manmade components of landscape architecture must be in harmony.
The principles defining Feng shui divide land into categories of which direction they face, their size, shape, and other parameters that dictate their “qi”, or energy potential.
[9] The cultural backgrounds that give way to sustainable landscape architecture in the Western and Eastern hemisphere differ on several grounds.
However, following the industrial revolution and along with a booming population rise, urbanization has become the main spotlight surrounding landscape architecture.
[17] These patterns influence landscape architecture to be catered solely to urban spaces, and to serve the metropolitan needs of economic meccas.
[6] For example, in Seoul, 20% of forests disappeared during urbanization in 1988-1999, due to an unplanned influx of population coupled with disorganization following the Korean War.
To avoid the environmental downfalls of urbanization, methods such as planned spacing, sustainable transport systems and purposeful vegetation implementation (on roofs, roads, riversides) is recommended.
[9] Tools within the built environment, such as natural filters, climate control tactics and reconciliation ecology are recommended to sustain the planet.
In Southern Europe, domestic species are being re-introduced to urbanized areas to help with cultural identity, food production, and a lack of vegetation in the city.
It slowly began to spread out into periphery farming land, consuming the landscapes bordering the urban space.
The government has begun to plant olive trees in such areas, therefore benefitting from small green urban spaces in several categories.
With urbanization and industrialization discouraging the participation in rural landscapes and communities, the United Nations has sought ways to restore culture sustainability with these spaces through touristic potential.
In 1990, UNESCO emphasized the creation of GeoParks to instill geotourism and restore historical and cultural integrity to a site.
[21] By rooting these projects in cultural incentives, landscape designs can focus on rural community ideals, rather than metropolitan restrictions.
Ţara Haţegului in Romania is an ideal example of such a project which achieves sustainable landscape architecture by using cultural emphasis.
