Market Transformation

SITES is spearheaded by the American Society of Landscape Architects and the United States Botanic Garden, both based in Washington, D.C., in addition to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, which was established in 1982 by the former First Lady and actress Helen Hayes to protect and preserve North America’s native plants and natural landscapes. Many other agencies and organizations, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Nature Conservancy, and the USGBC, are supporting the effort. The initiative’s overarching goal is to establish a LEED-like rating system that will set in motion a market transformation toward sustainable landscape practices across industry sectors in much the same way that LEED did for buildings. More than 150 teams, representing projects in 34 states and the District of Columbia plus three other countries, have just completed a two-year pilot study of the SITES preliminary rating system.

“It’s about accelerating change in the market,” says landscape architect Debra Guenther, a partner at Mithun in Seattle, who contributed to the initial development of SITES and has worked on several of its pilot projects. She believes that even though the technical know-how had already existed in certain circles, the rating system integrates the information so that more people can access it and apply it to projects. “It becomes a touchstone, a resource that you can point to and say that these are the best practices agreed upon by a range of experts in the industry.”

A few of these best practices will sound familiar to those accustomed to LEED, although some of the nitty-gritty details will vary. For example, according to the SITES preliminary version, which was released in 2009, at least 95 percent of all prime farmland, unique farmland, and farmland of statewide importance with healthy soils–in addition to areas within 100 feet of a wetland–must be designated as vegetation and soil protection zones (VSPZ). In contrast, the current LEED for Neighborhood Development (ND) allows a similar farmland requirement to be met by purchasing easements on other land with comparable soils and limits new development to within 50 feet of wetlands. And LEED for New Construction (NC) does not require but will give credit to projects that do not develop buildings, hardscape, roads, or parking areas on such prime soils or within 100 feet of a wetland.

Other best practices break new ground, figuratively if not literally. While both LEED NC and LEED ND encourage an integrated design approach by offering a credit for teams with a LEED-accredited professional, SITES requires the establishment at pre-design of an integrated design team that, in addition to the client, includes site design, construction, and maintenance professionals with expertise in vegetation, water/hydrology, soil, landscape ecology, materials, and human health and well-being. The preliminary guidelines also call for a detailed assessment during pre-design of what is already on or near the site to capitalize on existing conditions and resources (and they provide an extremely thorough seven-page worksheet for guidance).

Natural Processes

Ecosystem Services In a healthy ecosystem, natural processes involving the interaction of living and non-living elements produce goods and services of direct and indirect benefit to humans.

Global climate regulation Local climate regulation Air and water cleansing Water supply and regulation Erosion and sediment control Hazard mitigation Pollination Habitat functions Waste decomposition and treatment Human health and well-being benefits Food and renewable nonfood products Cultural benefits

Some professionals will ask why a rating system specifically tailored to landscapes is needed. SITES developers astutely nipped that question in the bud by preparing the document “The Case for Sustainable Landscapes” (available at sustainablesites.org). In addition to presenting a general discussion of sustainability and the principles upon which SITES is based, the authors introduce the critical but not well-known concept of “ecosystem services.”

The term refers to all the benefits that an outdoor environment in its natural, undeveloped state provides to humans and other forms of life–from producing food and decomposing wastes to cleansing air and water and providing recreation and respite. One of SITES’ basic premises is that any parcel of developed land, no matter its size or function, can contribute to these life-sustaining processes if designed, constructed, and maintained properly. For example, with the right soils, a backyard or commercial property can better store rainwater, thereby minimizing stormwater runoff that scours impervious surfaces along its route of pollutants, dumping them into streams. And with proper vegetation, the same land could support pollinators necessary for local agriculture.

Hunts Point Landing, a part of the South Bronx Greenway, will be open later this year. Spearheaded by the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the greenway was designed by Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects to provide waterfront access, improve air and water quality, reestablish habitat for native plants and wildlife, and introduce alternative modes of transportation to this industrialized area along the East River.

Renderings © New York City Economic Development Corporation

Unfortunately, such ecosystem services have been taken for granted for so long that most developers typically do not put a dollar amount on them. Increasingly, however, efforts are being made to rectify this serious accounting gaffe. An article posted last April on the website of Scientific American, for example, reports that the World Bank has been encouraging countries registered for this year’s U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, which took place in June, “to commit to implementing natural accounting systems alongside their gross domestic product measurements.”

Of course, protecting our environment requires not only an appreciation of the true benefits we receive from it and the actual dollar value associated with these benefits, but also an understanding of the complex, overlapping natural processes that allow these benefits to accrue. “The Case for Sustainable Landscapes” briefly outlines the “natural biogeochemical cycles” by which “water, carbon, and nitrogen move through the biosphere, atmosphere, and geosphere in a complex dance that preserves and sustains all life on the planet.” Best landscape practices require detailed knowledge of these cycles so that man-made sites can support, rather than stifle, these vital flows.