Across the globe, issues surrounding water use, its infrastructure and its quality are abundant. The demand for water in agriculture, industry and in communities is growing rapidly, and it’s becoming more important than ever to implement water treatment, reuse and conservation strategies to preserve this precious limited resource.
A new USGBC brief, “Greenspace for Good: Using the SITES System to Advance Resilience," highlights specific performance-based strategies within the SITES rating system that address resilience.
The profession of landscape architecture teaches us to look at everything through a filter of sustainability, stewardship and the overwhelming motivation to leave things better off than the way we found them. The Sustainable SITES Initiative (SITES) approach provides us with a framework to do just that.
Green infrastructure (GI) elements, such as green roofs, rain gardens and permeable pavement are widely used in municipalities across the country to address climate impacts, prevent damage and pollution caused by stormwater runoff, and enhance community resilience. GI strategies can also help conserve energy and address social equity.
Land is a crucial component of the built environment. Too often, however, projects are designed without regard to their harmful impact on scarce resources, local culture and community, and underlying ecological systems.
Photo copyright: D. A. Horchner / Design Workshop, Inc.
As the world’s population grows, so does the rate of global urbanization and development. What is built on the land directly correlates to the impacts on ecological systems and to the health, safety and welfare of our communities.
