Landscape+Urbanism

Category: Hydrology

  • Daily Drawdown 9: Water

    This is the ninth in an ongoing series illustrating the relationship of Drawdown strategies to landscape architecture. For context, read the initial post here. Water is fundamental to discussions about climate change. Specifically the major shifts in water that will occur through global warming — droughts, extreme precipitation events, storm surge, and sea level rise,…

  • Daily Drawdown 6: Coastal Wetlands

    This is the sixth in an ongoing series illustrating the relationship of Drawdown strategies to landscape architecture. For context, read the initial post here. There are a number of solutions mentioned in Drawdown that interface with the natural environment, and in doing so have a direct interface to landscape architecture. Coastal Wetlands are an important…

  • Daily Drawdown 3: Green Roofs

    This is the third in an ongoing series illustrating the relationship of Drawdown strategies to landscape architecture. For context, read the initial post here. In the last post, I focused on a Drawdown topic, Refrigerant Management, that seemed out to be well outside of the scope of landscape architecture, to point out that we have…

  • Climate in Oregon

    The scientists at the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute (OCCRI) issued some state-specific information that augments other national climate reports. Their Fourth Oregon Climate Assessment Report was issued at the end of January 2019, focusing specifically on the “state of knowledge of climate science as it pertains to Oregon” The concise report outlines key issues…

  • The Shape of Water

    An amazing resource posted on ASLA’s The Dirt (here) focuses on Design Guidelines for Urban Wetlands, specifically what shapes are optimal for performance. Using simulations and physical testing to investigate hydraulic performance the team from the Norman B. Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism (LCAU) at MIT.  Led by Heidi Nepf, Alan Berger and Celina Balderas Guzman along with a team…

  • Living Shorelines

    Amidst the political crazy we like to call our United States government, and specifically what seems like a daily dismantling of environmental policies, there’s at least some folks at work on alternatives.  Per a recent ASLA Advocacy brief: “On December 1, 2017, Congressman Frank Pallone Jr. (NJ) introduced H.R. 4525, the Living Shorelines Act of 2017.…

  • Why Cities Need More Green Roofs

    Nice video from NPR on Why Cities Need More Green Roofs.  From the summary. “We took a field trip to the largest green roof in New York City. Then we imagined what the city could be like if all of its roof space was green.”

  • Introducing Hidden Hydrology

    Regular readers of the blog know of my long-time passions of both Vegitecture and Hidden Hydrology, which both dovetail nicely into the larger themes of Landscape+Urbanism.  While the L+U blog has been relatively intermittent, I’ve been hard at work developing a new website and blog for the Hidden Hydrology project. The goal is to culminate…

  • Snoqualmie Ice Circle

    It’s been unseasonably cold this winter (in Pacific Northwest terms at least), and while my friends to the south in Portland dig out of their recent snowstorm, locally, there are some benefits, such as the amazing phenomenon of ice circles.  Captured by local photographer Kaylyn Messer,  from  North Bend, Washington,this one is a short distance…

  • Water and Cities

    Interesting exploration from Architect’s Newspaper from October covering a range of water specific projects and proposals in the urban realm.  A short description: “For landscape architects today, urbanism and water go hand in hand. Whether dealing with issues of sea level rise, groundwater retention, or just plain old water supply infrastructure, landscape architects are working…