Latest News Landscape Architecture May Edition

10-May-2017 – Latest News Landscape Architecture May by Brett Lezon | Edition No. 2 out of 4 In this week’s Latest News in Landscape Architecture, we feature several urban topics such as Amsterdam’s ‘Night Mayor’ and a series of technological solutions to aid global problems, highlight a proposed park in Taipei, and examine the results from a design competition in Tampa. Additionally, we showcase a book about environmental sustainability, and don’t forget our YouTube Tutorial of the Week! This week we share a resource on downtown master planning in SketchUp.

10 of the Best Stories in this week’s latest news in landscape architecture:

• City Planning Workflow – 1: Downtown Master Plan [YouTube Tutorial of the Week]
• Lessons from Amsterdam’s ‘Night Mayor’
• Why Urban Trees Are Giving Us Life
• Landscape Architecture and Environmental Sustainability: Creating Positive Change Through Design [Book Review of the Week]
• How Amazon’s ‘Invisible’ Hand Can Shape Your City
• Here Are Eight Startups Developing Technological Solutions to Global Urban Problems
• Kinder Institute Releases Findings from 2017 Houston Area Survey
• Building A Resilient City Through Design and Analytics
• TRTC Unveils A Redesign Plan for Belt-Shaped Park
• Can Tampa Undo its Post-War Planning Mistakes while Embracing its Environment? This Competition Explored How

Latest News Landscape Architecture May Edition 02

• City Planning Workflow – 1: Downtown Master Plan [YouTube Tutorial of the Week]

WATCH >>> City Planning Workflow – 1: Downtown Master Plan

Throughout, this 17-minute tutorial, the presenter demonstrates how to approach urban planning in SketchUp via his workflow preferences. From a beneficial “”incremental random push-pull” plugin to importing an entire modeled city at once—this instructional video offers tremendous tips for any level user. Related Article: 10 Incredible Plugins for SketchUp

• Lessons from Amsterdam’s ‘Night Mayor’: Citiscope

When a former nightclub promoter became Amsterdam’s ‘night mayor’ some were skeptical, yet over five years has passed and now cities like London, Paris, and Zurich have followed suit. London has even made it a formal position in the city administration, which Amsterdam hasn’t. Recently, the ‘night mayor’ himself, Mirik Milan, was interviewed at the Smart Cities NYC conference and besides acknowledging that he has a pretty cool job, Milan discussed entertainment policy, managing nightlife through data, and ‘Square Hosts’ (which are trained and paid social workers and the eyes and ears of the police). Related Article: Amsterdam Canal Ring | How Amsterdam Became One of the Most Sustainable Cities in the World  WATCH >>> Behind Amsterdam’s thriving club scene, this ‘night mayor’ keeps the peace

• Why Urban Trees Are Giving Us Life: Torontoist

While the value of urban trees is well-known, many street trees still struggle to survive the first few years after planting. Often surrounded by concrete, in poor, compacted soil, it’s no wonder why it’s a growing concern. According to a study in Toronto, trees provide $28.2 million worth of services each year in the form of savings on heating and cooling, improvements to air quality and carbon sequestration. Though some cities have cut their forestry services, figures like these demonstrate the importance of the continued investment into these programs. Related Article: Choosing Urban Trees: The Essential Guide

• Landscape Architecture and Environmental Sustainability: Creating Positive Change Through Design: Bloomsbury Visual Arts [Book Review of the Week]

“Landscape architecture has a pivotal role in ensuring environmental sustainability through design interventions. This book takes a broad look at strategies and completed projects to provide the reader with a strong understanding of the sustainability challenges being faced by designers today, and potential routes to addressing them.” “Through case studies from around the world and interviews with leading landscape architects and practitioners, this book invites discussion about possible future scenarios, relevant theories and project responses in landscape environmental design. With hundreds of color images throughout the book, and additional study material in the companion website, Joshua Zeunert provides an overview of the multidimensional qualities of landscape sustainability.” Related Article: 10 Projects That Put Sustainability at the Forefront of Landscape Architecture

• How Amazon’s ‘Invisible’ Hand Can Shape Your City: Curbed

As e-commerce continues to grow, cities should start creating more holistic designs for roadways, says Anne Goodchild, who runs the Urban Freight Lab at the University of Washington in Seattle. “Freight doesn’t appear to exist in urban planning, and that’s a problem,” she says. “Most people look at public transit and mobility, but they don’t appear to be living in a physical world. How can they plan complete streets when the words ‘freight delivery’ [aren’t] used?” Goodchild believes that through additional curb cuts (graded ramps between the sidewalk and the street) and larger loading zones “dwell times” would be reduced and everyone would benefit. More Top Stories in the News This Week

• Here Are Eight Startups Developing Technological Solutions to Global Urban Problems: City Metric
• Kinder Institute Releases Findings from 2017 Houston Area Survey: KHOU News
• Building A Resilient City Through Design and Analytics: Perkins + Will Blog
• TRTC Unveils A Redesign Plan for Belt-Shaped Park: Taipei Times
• Can Tampa Undo its Post-War Planning Mistakes while Embracing its Environment? This Competition Explored How: The Architect’s Newspaper

– For all of the latest news in Landscape Architecture continue to follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Do you have news to share? Send to office@landarchs.com News report by Brett Lezon