Luis Fernando Gonzalez

Great idea for a group!

I’m glad to see someone else interested in SSI! I’m working on a children’s garden project for the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. We’re designing the project to the preliminary draft SSI credits in hopes to create a sustainable landscape project, test the credits and criteria and eventually hopefully become a pilot project.

To all:
check out my new discussion group: townscapes, villagescapes

I am looking for some of your best exemples of rain garden project, rain managment etc. I am in a preparation of a seminar and will enjoy to see what is really happening outside my own practice. Please feel free to share informations and projects….

Does anyone know of a good source for construction details for ‘green’ design? I’d like to review these…

iT IS MOSTLY CULLET DISPOSAL AND HEAVY METALS (LEAD), MOST OTHER CONTAMINENTS WHERE FULLY REMOVED. I WAS ACTUALLY INTERESTED IN BIO – PHYRO REMEDIATIONS BUT HAD NOT FOUND A GREAT DEAL OF INFO ON THEM.

Ya i defentenly plan on trying to use Bioretention techniques, but this is not a exectly a mitigation techniques it is a stormwater solution, i need some way to extract or mitigate the heavy metals that are with in the soil and water on site, bioretention will help in preventing them to go to the stream but then they are still on site in the soil.

Bioretention is a technique that can be used in nearly any environment, including brownfields, as a water quality control. This may be getting too technical for your project, but depending on the amount of on-site contamination, I would recommend that you wrap all of your stormwater BMPs with an impermeable membrane to help control the spread of…[Read more]

i am a landscape architecture student working on my senior project, which is a brownfield site ( old glass manufacture), and curious to see if any one had unique design, mitigation techniques and or a case study i should look in to.

Larry these look to be very helpful examples of how other municipalities are implementing these strategies. Good case studies. Thanks for sharing.

you might want to check out this useful doc put out by the epa. its a lot of portland stuff but much more.. Larry Shaeffer
and add to greenstreets links list

link to Municipal Handbook Green Infrastructure
http://cfpub2.epa.gov/npdes/greeninfrastructure/munichandbook.cfm

Green Infrastructure Municipal Handbook

The Municipal Handbook is a series…[Read more]

Well I’ll be honest, I’m very jealous of what you are able to get approved out on the west coast. As of now we seem to be a bit behind the curve but we’re trying to at least catch up with you.

The majority of our office work is around the Washington D.C. metropolitan area (including northern VA and Maryland) and each municipality seems to be at…[Read more]

Well in Australia they use a broader term Water Sensitive Urban Design, as opposed to LID, which refers to 3 areas of water management (Potable Water, Waste Water and Stormwater) and how my effecting one of these you have the potential to effect the others. For instance, by reusing stormwater to irrigate landscape or flush toilets, we also reduce…[Read more]

Philip – that sounds really awesome! I’m looking forward to hearing what was shared, not only from a green streets perspective but would love to hear all about what you are doing in Australia with regards to water design.

Hi everyone. My name is PJ Benenati and I ‘m with EDAW in Alexandria, VA. I look forward to talking with you all and sharing ideas.

Our offices in Australia have been incorporating LID into the landscape for some time now. An environmental firm, called Ecological Engineering, joined with EDAW nearly 4 years ago and is now working mainly out of…[Read more]

No rush, best of luck on the exam.

Here’s an example of the political aspect of planning and landscape architecture:

Nrschmid:
“However, some of them [landscape architects] struggle to find the underlying meaning in the ordinances and what has been established by plan commissions as precedent. For example, one community’s ordinance might allow Betula nigra (River birch) but the r…[Read more]

Zoning is way to control activities, which is important for a city. But as we all know cities are dynamic, some people even suggest that the city is a living organisim. froming this point of view, “zoing” should work in different ways comparing with exisiting and conventional “zoning” practices.
I think “zoning” is also a tool for the authority to…[Read more]

Well, that wasn’t he part of the quote that I was trying to emphasize, I’m not going to stand here and say that the government has cornered the market on corruption, the argument really isn’t about morality, its about social functions.

You are entitled to your assessment of Jane Jacob’s work but her contribution to urban design theory is…[Read more]

Good points, I suppose another important distinction to draw as we continue the conversation is that a planner’s role will vary greatly depending on if he or she is employed by a municipality or by a private sector consulting firm.

I suppose what I meant in my earlier post is that I have been impressed by the work of the private sector planners…[Read more]