Sierra Shamburg: Urban Design

Module 6: Current Practices and Moving Forward In Landscape Architecture, we use the Sustainable SITES initiative to evaluate the designs and their effects on the environment. According to the Sustainable SITES Initiative website, "SITES is used by landscape architects, designers, engineers, architects, developers, policy makers, and others to align land development and management with innovative sustainable design." also, "... SITES helps create ecologically resilient communities and benefits the environment, property owners, and local and regional communities and economics." Basically, this tool is used as a grading tool using the same comparative techniques across the board and use an equal scale rating to grade designs. It focuses on not only how the design looks,but how the design performs and acts as a sustainable area. There is a lot of focus on water conservation and the percentages of impervious pavement versus the pervious or porous aspects of the site...

Module 5: Urban Design and Urban Development Urban development has many affects on urban design, some positive, and some have the ability to be negative. There are three different types of Urban development that have changed how designers interact with sites and how they plan out their designs. The first development tactic that has shaped urban design is the Plug-in Method.  The Plug-in method consists of linear design elements that are introduced to the existing area that provide systems of infrastructure acting as connections to surrounding buildings. An example of Plug-in urban development is the design and construction of the National Mall in Washington D.C. The mall is a pedestrian only area that allows people to interact with the area and brings them into the surrounding museums and other facilities surrounding the large pedestrian mall. The mall's design has been altered many times since Pierre L'Enfant first presented the design to President George Washington. Since...