Topos 70 presents exemplary issues on sustainability in city and landscape. What does sustainability mean when it comes to landscape matters? There are classifications and certifications for buildings such as Breeam, Green Star, DGNB or LEED. But ist seems to be even more challenging to qualify landscapes. The US Sustainable Sites Initiative is such an attempt, others will follow. This Topos issue presents some outstanding projects in this respects and debates the the sustainability criteria.
From Expo City to Sustainable City
From 1 May to 31 October 2010 the World Expo will be held in Shanghai. With the motto “Better City, Better Life” the central theme of cities has been chosen for an Expo for the first time. Author: Ruff, Stefanie, Dong, Nannan, Zhang, Lang
Qiaoyuan Park - An Ecosystem Services-Oriented Regenerative Design
In the Chinese city of Tianjin, the strategy of “adaptive palettes” was used to create a series of biologically diverse ecosystems that could repair contaminated soils and treat urban stormwater. Today, Qiaoyuan Park has reclaimed a brownfield by integrating regenerative ecological functions, using native plants in a landscape that is allowed to adapt and evolve. Author: Yu, Kongjian
New Living in Jenfeld
The new residential development on the periphery of Hamburg is the perfect testing ground for future-oriented development. It combines social and ecological sustainability in an innovative landscape masterplan. In January the project received the International Urban Landscape Award 2009. Author: Elsässer, Christoph Matthias
Watersquares - The Elegant Way of Buffering Rainwater in Cities
New methods of dealing with increasing stormwater are currently being explored in Rotterdam where surplus surface water is stored in watersquares that are designed to flood temporarily. Author: Boer, Florian
Edge on paracentric architecture
The answer to ecological architecture does not lie in technological solutions but in creating poetic everyday spaces that continue the natural primeval course of architecture as shelter and mediator between man and nature. Author: Rintala, Sami
Renewable Energies – Landscapes of Reconciliation?
Renewable energies reduce changes in landscapes and shifts in land use zones. Unlike conventional power plants, renewable energy installations can overlap with existing structures and generate synergies. Developing these synergies is a task for landscape architects. Author: Dittrich, Andreas René, Schöbel, Sören
Photovoltaics in Open Space Design
Photovoltaic elements can be used on buildings and built structures to supply electricity. Integrating this technological equipment is a design challenge not only for architecture but also for landscape architecture. Including elements providing solar energy for electricity and heating will develop into a widespread task in open space design. Author: Pfeiffer, Maria
Biocity - Emergent Sustainability
Emergence or the study of complexity explores how complex systems and patterns self-organise. This provides a new way of reading the conceptual process of city development. The Biocity model defines cities as self-organising, ecological biotopes. It can be used as a sustainable integrated planning tool for urban design. Author: McGregor, Adrian
The Carbon Landscape - Using the free market to fight climate change
Large international corporations rebrand their produce policies addressing environmental, community, fair trade and labour practices to meet changed consumer behaviour. Landscape architects could use theirs market position in order to influence the materials industry, thus reducing the carbon footprint. Author: Pocock, Craig
Masdar City, Abu Dhabi
The oil-rich Emirate of Abu Dhabi on the Persian Gulf is building Masdar City under the eco-city label. Carbon-neutral and zero waste are themes of the pilot project that is a large-scale experiment and showcase at the same time. The city in the desert is to be ready for occupation as early as 2016. Author: Rau, Cordula
Xeritown, Dubai
Xeritown, an extension of Dubai toward the inland desert, takes the desert and local climate as a context from which the urban form emerges by working with the natural environment. The planning for the 59-hectare, mixed-use development applies sustainable principles. Author: Müller, Sabine, Quednau, Andreas
The Sustainable Sites Initiative
The Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES) is an endeavor to create the first performance-based rating system for the development, maintenance, and regeneration of landscape projects. Modeled after the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system, SITES focuses on the space outside of buildings. Author: Almiñana, José
A New Paradigm in Sustainable Land Use
The global change in land use and its impact on the hydrology reduces evaporation and precipitation rates and releases heat. In urban areas, the priority for rainwater management needs to be shifted to evaporative cooling and vegetation. Author: Schmidt, Marco
Sustainability and Landscape
Sustainability represents more than mere technological solutions and responses to issues of design projects. Sustainability is fundamentally about the distribution of resources between individuals and species and, therefore, grounded in a discourse of justice. Landscape architects must engage in this underlying issue of justice. Author: Beck, Jody
The contested shore - Two Centuries of Saving the Landscape of Sydney Harbour
Sydney thrives on its harbour, a diverse riparian landscape shaped by water. Sea Change 2030 is the title of an international ideas competition, for which Topos is a media partner. The competition is seeking concepts that consider the sea level rise in Sydney, which can also be applied to other cities. Author: Mackenzie, Stuart
