SITES APs are landscape architects, designers, engineers, planners, ecologists, architects, developers and policymakers committed to the field of sustainable land design and development. Maintaining a SITES AP credential demonstrates their knowledge, expertise and commitment to their profession.

More than 15 years ago, a Georgia Tech architecture and urban planning master’s student named Ryan Gravel delivered a thesis statement that is leading to the transformation of the City of Atlanta. His plan for a combination of a transportation network, parks and bike trails connecting people across the city is now a 25-year, $4.8 billion project, spanning more than 640 acres of land, known as the Atlanta BeltLine.

Washington, D.C.—(June 21, 2018)—The renovation of Bartholdi Park at the United States Botanic Garden (USBG) is complete, and the new garden is a showcase of sustainable gardening. Created in 1932, Bartholdi Park has served as a demonstration garden for more than 80 years, and until 2016, had not undergone a complete renovation since its original construction.

Over the years, GBCI has built a suite of green business programs dedicated to enhancing environmental performance and human health benefits. As companies continue to work to validate sustainability performance and communicate progress, more and more are finding value in pursuing multiple certifications.

For more than 80 years, Bartholdi Park at the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C., has served as a demonstration garden for residents and visitors visiting the nation’s capital. When it came time to undergo a renovation, the team saw an opportunity to show how applying sustainable design and development principles can help elevate the value of land in a way that better serves communities and the environment.

Feature image: Washington Canal Park in Washington, D.C.

New construction projects that follow design guidelines and aim to meet performance benchmarks set a critical foundation for sustainability. The SITES v2 Rating System provides a clear framework for developing such projects, while emphasizing site maintenance and encouraging performance monitoring post-construction.

During the first SITES Quarterly Call of 2018, our panel of experts from GBCI and Design Workshop dissected the various stages of the SITES certification process.

Administered by GBCI, SITES is a rating system used by landscape professionals to align land development and management with sustainable design. After several years of beta testing, SITES v2 was released in 2015. By 2018, a wide variety of projects in the U.S. and abroad have become certified—more than 40 million square feet to date.