Presentation Transcript

1. GEOG 346: Day 21

   Urban Green Space
2. Housekeeping Items How was WDCAG?? Before we get started, I want to show you a very short video clip on an innovative development in Boulder, CO. You can find out more at http://www.boulderhousing.org/content/recent-development-holiday-neighborhood. For information on smart growth policies in Cincinnati, see http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/2012/03/06/smart-growth-stories-a-mayors-perspective/ Today, we will discuss the field trip last Thursday and go over the questions that assigned to each of you to see what you found out. After that we will start reviewing Chapter 7 in Condon.
3. Housekeeping Items I had a couple of volunteers who expressed a willing-ness to do some research for the China Steps Charrette for extra credit, and I could use one more. The topics for research would include: •interviewing Imogene Lim about the Chinese heritage of the area (and check out her web site on same); •interviewing Chris Scholberg at the City about the general heritage and history of the area, and • researching the natural history of the area – i.e. was it part of the bay that was infilled? Is there any saltwater intrusion underneath the site, etc.
4. FIELD TRIP First of all, did all the drivers get adequate gas money? Can we pool what we learned from Graham, since not everyone got a chance to hear everything he said? Did anyone check out the You Tube videos?
5. CONDON, CHAPTER 7 How would you characterize the development process in cities from an ecological point of view? It is certainly not undertaken from an ecosystem perspective. Too often it’s what might be called a “death by a thousand cuts” approach – i.e. “Oh, well, we’ve got more forests and wetlands, it won’t hurt to pave over some more.” That may be the prevailing attitude in the Linley Valley. In one of the You Tube videos, Mayor John Ruttan and (former) planning director, Andrew Tucker, are shown pointing to the forms and checklists and saying: “The developers did everything required by law, they jumped through all the hoops.” But just because something is not technically illegal doesn’t mean that it is socially or ecologically optimal sound, or even ethically right, as architect William McDonough has pointed out..
6. CONDON, CHAPTER 7 To take an ecosystem approach, one would need to look at the big (regional) picture or, as Condon says, to see that “the site is to the region what the cell is to the body… the ecological function of the site have everything to do with the ecological health of the region.” You can’t make ecologically irresponsible decisions at the site level and expect them to add up to greater ecological health at a regional scale. He extends his analogy to the human body by saying that rivers and streams are the veins of the urban ecosystem, and that rooftops, driveways, lanes and streets are the capillaries. His critique of the way we currently do development is two-fold: • it undermines ecological health, and it • deprives children and others of direct nature experiences. It has been shown by numerous psychological studies that contact with nature greatly reduces stress and restores attention.
7. CONDON, CHAPTER 7 What does ecological health consist of in an urban context? For those of you in 352, how does this relate to the notion of ecosystem services? What kinds of activities in nature can have a salutary effect on human health and well-being? How are these issues exemplified (or not) in Linley Valley? How do cities function optimally for both humans and non-human species? Is this even possible?
8. CONDON, CHAPTER 7 In this chapter, he discusses a bit of the history of landscape architecture, his discipline. It was founded, at least in North America, by Frederick Law Olmsted, and was influenced by the romantic strain of the transcendental movement of Emerson and Thoreau. Olmsted’s greatest achievements were the design of Central Park in New York and the Emerald Necklace in Boston, but he also designed Parc Mont Royal in Montreal. There are many things that his parks were supposed to accomplish: • spiritual uplift • bringing different social classes into contact with one another • facilitating passive and active recreation • enhancing real estate values • facilitating transportation (paths and trails) and • enhancing ecological function. His thinking is many ways was more holistic and integrative than most 20th century parks planners.
9. Frederick Law Olmsted
10. CONDON, CHAPTER 7 The Emerald Necklace exemplifies a critical feature of contemporary ecologically and alternative transportation-inspired parks planning: connectivity – creating linked corridors through the urban environment that can facilitate wildlife movement, walking and cycling and that match, in some cases, stream networks. Olmsted’s son and stepson carried on his work. His proto-ecological thinking was revived by Ian McHarg, author of Design With Nature, and John Lyle and others in the last 50 years. McHarg anticipated GIS by developing sieve mapping, which involved the overlay of different types of data to see where development would be most advantageous (or least injurious). He would map habitat, areas of hydrological significance (e.g. recharge areas), unstable soils or those with agricultural value, etc. and steer development clear of those areas.
11. CONDON, CHAPTER 7 The largest application of McHarg’s ideas was the new community of Woodlands, Texas. While Condon has some criticisms of it, it was and is a huge advance on conventional greenfield planning and development. The short chapter by Randall Arendt I am asking you to read for Thursday represents a more modest application of some of the same principles. Low-impact development standards have also been developed in cities like Olympia, WA. These involve significant riparian buffer zones and emulation of natural processes in the treatment of stormwater. In terms of the latter, Dockside Green has implemented such a system into its structure. Ian McHarg
12. CONDON, CHAPTER 7 The work of limiting urban sprawl was greatly facilitated by Oregon’s passage, in 1973, of Senate Bill 100, which mandated that all cities establish land use goals and urban growth boundaries. Despite numerous court challenges, it has endured. In Ontario, as a result of agitation by the Save The Oak Ridges Moraine (STORM) Coalition and other groups, the province was forced to set a large green belt to limit the sprawl of Metro Toronto and to protect important aquifer and habitat areas along the Oak Ridges Moraine and Niagara Escarpment.
13. CONDON, CHAPTER 7 In the rest of the chapter, Condon offers five principles for urban green space planning: put nature out front (where it is visible), not out back; use the seam between nature and the city for alternative transportation; integrate natural systems into more formal recreation areas and civic spaces; expand the green network indefinitely; provide an alternative movement system throughout the city (for cyclists and pedestrians, etc.). Apart from the example of Pringle Creek in Salem, OR – which Condon cites as an example of all of them –can you think of examples of each of these principles?