When I was a little kid growing up in New York City, the Hudson River was NOT a body of water that was considered for recreation. It was to be avoided. By the time I was in high school, though — thanks to the efforts of dedicated people in the city government and non-profit groups… More
Philip Potyondy is a Sustainable Forestry Coordinator with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. He has a B.S. and an M.S. in urban forestry, and is an ISA Certified Arborist and a TCIA certified tree care safety professional. His Masters Thesis research on the benefits of trees in cold climates has interested us for years,… More
Impervious cover associated with roadways, parking lots, sidewalks, and rooftops feels necessary for the needs of people in the built environment, but can destroy the ecological integrity of the receiving streams that must accommodate all the associated runoff. Stream or river health is closely linked to land-use activities and pollutant management practices (or lack thereof)… More
Hi! Today we’re sharing the first episode of DeepRoot’s new podcast, Remarkable Objects! For this episode, I spoke with Barbara Deutsch, Executive Director of the Landscape Architecture Foundation — a small non-profit dedicated to research, scholarship, and advocacy. Barbara said something in our interview that really struck me: “It takes a long time to grow… More
One of the things innovative engineers do extraordinarily well is to think about solutions in different ways. Leading edge thinkers, engineers included, consider strategic influence – as opposed to fixed function thinking – when they think about how to solve a problem or overcome an obstacle. They disentangle themselves from the nets of old repeated… More
In recent years, landscape architecture has expanded beyond traditional projects to include land art projects, community-driven designs, and creative temporary uses for urban space. The range of these projects is vast and driven by human creativity, from Richard Serra’s project ‘Viewpoint’ in Germany, to Rebar Art and Design Studio’s ‘bicycle parklet’ located on Filbert and… More
This post was originally published on the Soils Matter blog. One of soil’s many important functions is to act like a sponge. As nature’s blanket, soil soaks up water that falls as rain or melts from snow and ice. Soil not only stores water, it also helps to filter out pollutants such as nutrients, bacteria,… More
In my role as director of the Sustainable SITES Initiative® at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, I observed the development of numerous projects. Too often, the landscape is seen as an afterthought – something to be altered and shaped once elements like buildings and roads are finalized. Rather than be an afterthought, though, how… More
When we talk about the value of urban trees and soils as a stormwater management tool, the contribution of the trees is often considered secondary. Soil will, of course, store significant amounts of runoff all on its own. However, new research at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL, has found that trees actually provided the largest… More
Imagine you own a small vacant plot, less than a quarter acre, in a quiet residential neighborhood. Its slope and wedge shape makes it less than ideal for development, but it is not serving any purpose sitting vacant behind a fence. It gets plenty of sun exposure, has a nutrient-rich clay soil and is located… More
As landscape architects, we are often under the impression that because we love urban trees and seeing new trees planted, that everyone around us will love these plantings as well. Some city dwellers do in fact welcome trees with great excitement, but others may see the trees as an intrusion of their private space or… More
If you are a regular reader of this blog, then you know we’ve had a recent spate of articles about biochard – from its history, to a discussion of possible applications and controversies, to a question-and-answer following a recent webinar about what designers need to know about the product. Because of the tremendous potential for… More
Soil. Stormwater. Sustainable Infrastructure.
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