Category: resources
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Inhabitat: Green the Tower
For those who have not had the opportunity to visit the site Inhabitat – do so immediately. I have to remember to check it periodically to see what’s new, as it had been until recently devoid of RSS feed (and one million thank you’s for that finally). Due to my lax visitation, I often am…
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Eco-Planning: Redux
A lot has been happening in the eco-village/community/neighborhood scale in sustainability. Picking up some loose threads of a recent post on Eco-Planned Communities a few more recent precedents to round out the mix. Sherwood Energy Village is a model UK development with the simple tagline: “Delivering practical regeneration that won’t cost the Earth – A…
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Urban Ag: A Variety of Techniques
It is garden planning season, and my plan is to double the 200 s.f. first year garden from last year, and build up some raised beds as well. I wonder, how large does a backyard garden have to get to qualify as a farm? Perhaps I should be more careful to plant what I can…
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World Architecture News
Our dilemma: having the time to spend daily on keeping up with the frenetic pace of design in todays world . Always a challenge, and in searching out more resources, I stumbled upon a great site yesterday, World Architecture News (WAN) featuring at least daily updates to a wide range of buildings world-wide. While building-centric,…
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Reading List: Vertical Gardens
Arriving last week, one of many books to come in the next year focussed on green walls and vegetated architecture. Vertical Gardens, authored by Anna Lambertini with an introduction by Jacques Leenhardt and photos by Mario Ciampi. Much like the gardens themselves, the photos of projects are full of variety and almost moist to the…
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Elements: Water
Water. How do you talk about it without sounding like a commercial for some sort of Brita water filter? Projects abound that deal with stormwater and water as resources – as we have evolved outside the terms of ‘waste’ and looked at it as a viable resource. :: An Exercise in Futility (by rebekka) –…
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Green Infrastructure
Green Infrastructure is one of those new terms that is compelling as a concept, but difficult to pin down regarding it’s exact application in the landscape. Simply, there is a shift from ‘gray’ infrastructure (pipes, pavement, and mechanical systems) to softer solutions consisting of multi-functional landscapes including a number of stormwater bmps, or LID techniques.…
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Shift into ‘Slow’ Gear
The Slow Food Movement has long been active in European countries, with it’s ubiquitous snail-mascot and new vocabulary (i.e. eco-gastronomy) making us stop (almost) and enjoy the concepts of local, fair, environmentally friendly food, and the idea of reconnecting to the pleasures of eating. :: logo via Slow Food International The concept is terribly European,…
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Pioneers of Planning
The historical roots of ecological planning and sustainability are varied. Metropolis magazine may not acknowledge the role of landscape architects in sustainability, perhaps this is because no one has specifically outlined a definitive history of ecological landscape architecture and planning. I began some time back to trace some of this lineage, which i will include…
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Resources & Blogs Galore
It was time for some reevaluation of the goals and objectives of the site, which should actually begin to take shape. In the interim, this just in… a bevy of recent readings that have required some study to determine if they are worthy… still a dearth of landscape blogs.1. Rumors have been floating around, so…