Reply To: Quantifying Added Value of Landscape Architecture

[Les Ballard]

Well, that’s a hard one! I guess we are talking the difference between vets and doctors here and we have to be both. The doctor can ask questions, very often, so the patient says they feel better. But you remove a thorn from a lion’s paw and you have to risk seeing if it gets more friendly!

As with most humanities things, like social work and wildlife preservation, you have to watch for small signs of improvements and conduct continual surveys (personal, not fill in this form variety). In my neck of the woods it may mean that, following a chat to 5 families in houses on chalk cliffs overlooking the sea they will now watch out for our native lizards unique – in our county – to their back gardens and seeing the populations stabilise over a few years. Alternatively, it may mean getting sessile oaks planted in another unique area for them instead of Q. Robur and getting 44 turkey oaks changed to hollyoaks (planners said it was an error but it was one that would have caused widespread negative hybridisation over time). The park is now doing nicely thanks, save for the errors they got fed up fixing like planting feral but supposed native wild privet by the horse path. All that money putting in a horse rider level road crossing control and they are going to poison any horse that grazes a few berries they have planted the producers of just cos they appear in the spring. Would they plant ragwort in a paddock?

For guidance on this kind of self assessment, that you can then report on, see social and youth workers courses but it would be good to hear from a tutor/mentor in lan-arch to see how they assess.

Luv n Lite

Les Ballard