Buy a computer, plant a tree?

Dell announced a new program would they would be willing to charge you an extra few bucks to plant a tree when you buy a computer (2$/laptop, $6/PC). The idea is about creating a carbon neutral policy, but the mechanism for implementing it is pretty odd. If Dell thinks they should get any sustainability credit for helping YOU spend money on trees, they are deeply confused. They should be insisting that for every machine they build, that THEY will match it with a proportionate response. After all, they are the ones profiting from this.

Institutional barriers abound. Anyone working for a government agency or on a government grant won't be allowed to check the box. How many clients would switch away from Dell over a $6 increase in price? How customers would switch to Dell if they simply insisted on a carbon neutral business model?

European Space Agency Goes for Biodiversity

Even as NASA is reducing its formal interest in Planet Earth the Europeans are stepping it up. Yesterday it was annaounce that the European Space Agency was initiating a new project to protect biodiversity. Their efforts to puruse a Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (image above) may serve as a great model for how the largest economic and scientific nations can contribute to local efforts in smaller countries. Certainly, the remote sensing imagery and expertise that they can lend is significant.

Spring Speakers Highlights

While I hope to post details as we go, here are a few of the spring lectures:

* Jason Grabosky, Associate Professor of Ecology,
Evolution and Natural Resources here at Rutgers, will
present some of his research which applies high
technology and considerable horsepower to understand
how trees respond to extreme storm conditions.

* Architect Adam Yarinski will share some of the work
of his firm Architectural Research Office (ARO), which
includes the top prize from the "New York, 2106"
Competition sponsored by The History Channel, IBM,
and Infinity to envision the future of Manhattan.
Web site: www.aro.net

* The first Steve Strom Memorial Lecture will be given by
Kenneth Helphand, FASLA, Professor of Landscape
Architecture at the University of Oregon and author of the
recently published Defiant Gardens: Making Gardens in
Wartime.
Web site: kennethhelphand.com

* This year's Margaret O. Cekada Memorial Lecture will
be given by Michael van Valkenburgh, FASLA, principal
of Michael van Valkenburgh Associates and Charles Eliot
Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture at the
Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Web site: www.mvvainc.com

Top Planning Issues of 2006

Planetizen sums up 2006 with a list of the Top Planning Issues. As I reconsider what to include in Fundamentals of Environmental Planning, this presents an opportunity to check which of these I do talk about already and which ones I have't. Clearly the green buliding trend and Kelo get some of my time. The housing bubble and Katrina cottages are going to be harder to fit in. And the gentrification of downtown strikes me as deserving more than the casual mention I give it. We'll see...

Visual stimulation

How many different ways are there to diagram an idea or model? It turns out that there are roughly as many types of diagrams as there are elements. You can see them arrayed at the Periodic Table of Visualization Methods.

Ramping Up for 2007: Part 4

Sustainability and green design aren't exactly new ideas but they've recently become more mainstream ideas that have come into their own.

The City of Seattle is fine-tuning their codes to encourage more green roof projects. Schools like Portland State have made sustainability an integrated element of the university operations with green campuses, green buildings and green transportation. And ASLA has built a green roof on their building in DC. And when state governments are pushing rain gardens, they aren't really cutting edge anymore. Are they?

During my sabbatical, I read all or part of three different books that begin to speak to some of these issues:
* Design Like You Give a Damn
* William Howard Kunstler's The Long Emergency
* Did Someone Say Participate? An Atlas of Spatial Practice

Design Like You Give a Damn was a great book that was just a long illustrated list of creative alternative solutions for design helping folks out. Admittedly, DLYDG was more about housing for the poor and clean water for villages, but this too is a sustainability problem. moreover, it showed how easy it was to create inexpensive project with reused materials, or energy efficient techniques to make life better in places as disparate as NYC's Bowery and rural Africa.

I tend to be very sympathetic to those who are arguing that the next great movement in design will not be a style so much as a philosophy that embraces more environmentally and societally friendly solutions. Landscape architects should have a leg up on the other design professions on this count, but there is limited evidence of it being true.

What is less clear to me is how environmental planning should change. It should already be sensitive to natural processes, working to minimize impact, and improving opportunities for open space within the urbanizing landscape. What's new in planning may be better policy tools and increased support for environmental initiatives.

UPDATE: The photo is a rain garden at MIT which I understand to be an Olin design as part of their larger efforts at the Stata Center which is just out of sight in this photo.

Design Week Lecture

"The Space of Trees"

Gary Hilderbrand, FASLA
Principal, Reed Hilderbrand

Tuesday, January 16th
7:00 p.m.
Trayes Hall, Douglass Campus Center

The Department of Landscape Architecture is pleased to begin its Spring 2007 Speakers Series with a special lecture for the 2nd annual "Design Week" charrette by Gary Hilderbrand. The focus of the talk will be the use of plants to create memorable spaces and meaningful places
and will draw upon some of the award winning work of his firm, Reed Hilderbrand.

Reed Hilderbrand embodies the belief that landscape is a compelling medium of cultural expression. Their ASLA award winning projects range from private residences to the Hobart Urban Nature Preserve to the Children's Therapeutic Garden at the Institute for Child and Adolescent Development. And as evidenced by their work at seminal American landscapes such as the Arnold Arboretum and the Mt. Auburn Cemetery, the firm has developed a reputation for creating designs that capable of bridging the past and the future. As a design critic, Mr. Hilderbrand's books and articles have examined critical dimensions of twentieth century landscape architecture, ranging from the traditionalist approach of Richard Webel and Umberto Innocenti to the early Modernism of Dan Kiley to the ecological responsiveness of Richard Haag to the contemporary efforts of George Hargreaves. In all cases, his writings reflect upon the challenges and opportunities of professional practice: how responding to the needs of society instills an awareness of the site, and how the process of shaping earth, plants, and water give rise to expressive possibilities. He is a Fellow of the American Association of Landscape Architects and of the American Academy in Rome.

"Design Week" was initiated into the curriculum last year to allow students in the professionally accredited program in Landscape Architecture to test their own abilities in solving complex spatial problems. In the first week of the spring semester departmental courses are replaced by a single intensive design exercise. Integrated teams of sophomores, juniors, and seniors are presented with a seemingly intractable problem that involves a multifaceted program, a large site, technical challenges, a rich cultural context, and ever-present concerns about natural system. They are then given six days to provide a solution. While members of the faculty are available for consultation, students are, themselves, largely responsible for all aspects of the undertaking: defining the precise scope of work, scheduling tasks, identifying research and analysis needs, prescribing a design-development process, procuring drawing and model making supplies, and producing a book of their work. Final drawings and models are then publicly presented and critiqued by an outside jury. For sophomores, who have just been admitted to the program, Design Week is an opportunity to apply the skills recently learned and see firsthand the kinds of knowledge they will develop in the coming years. For upperclassmen it is the chance to develop logistical and leadership skills. For all, it is the opportunity to develop a teamwork ethic. But perhaps above all, the scope and scale of these projects combined with the intensity in which they are studied provides the students with a unique opportunity for independent work. Last year's problem was to complete the College Avenue Design Competition RFP--something the professional firms had five months to do. This year's problem will be revealed to the students on the morning of the 16th.

Landscape Job

Growing landscape construction company is recruiting an energetic team member knowledgeable in design, estimating and sales. Experience with planting and masonry is necessary. We service high-end residential and commercial clients in northern NJ. Competitive Salary plus benefits, paid vacation and holidays.
Submit your resume at nj.com or FAX 973 509-0623
Thank you for your assistance. Sincerely, Frederic W. Jones, Office Manager

Why is it so dark here?

So what happens when you use nice things in public places? They walk. So what do you do? Use cheaper things? Bolt them down tighter? Stop creating public space? Not many good options.

Success is a choice

No better way to start out the semester than with this message of inspiration from Michael Cera. And, coming from an actor whose show was cancelled, it means even more.

Hot enough for 'ya?

The USDA Hardiness Zones are a tool that just about every serious gardener, landscaper, and landscape architect should know well. Unfortunately, the last update was in 1990 and some places in the US have changed zones. Well, the Arbor Day Foundation has come up with their own update. Aside from helping folks understand the basic information about picking the right plants for the right place, this website includes a map showing all of the areas in the US that have changed. My eyeball estimate is about 50%. Make sure you watch the animation, too.

Crepe Myrtles? Yes. Gardenias? Soon. It turns out that maybe I should have spent more time at LSU studying palms and tropicals.

After spending a downright hot January afternoon in the Pine Barrens, I found myself wondering how much more it will take to bring folks around to the real concerns of climate change. Maybe this will help folks who already use and rely on these maps?

Plant lists galore

Its going to be a gorgeous Saturday. Where could we go to see some plants I usually don't run into? If we went to Lord Stirling Park we could find some chicory and 4 different kinds birch. But at Cheesequake Park we could see 19 different kinds of grasses. And the nearby little Davidson Mill Park has 2 rushes and 3 sedges. How do I know what's there? There is a botanist who has been actively visiting hundreds of sites throughout NY/NJ/CT and cataloguing the species seen on site.

Its a fun resource for a sunny Saturday or a class project.

Touchscreen technology

Here's a techie video to get you through the weekend. NYU's Jeff Han shows off some impressive touchscreen innovation at Google's TED.

Homeowners associations and free speech

The NJ Supreme court has agreed to hear a case pitting free speech rights against the powers of a homeowners association. It is happening down in Twin Rivers and is actually an interesting case since the it asks whether the contractual agreement that homeowners enter into upon moving to the neghborhood is a binding contract (bound by one set of constraints) or whether it becomes a governing entity (with a different set of epectations). Since homeowners assocaitions are the fastest growing form of government in the US, this might spark some exciting conversations.

Sweep!

Wow!

Rutgers 38 Kansas State 10
Kentucky 28 Clemson 20
Wisconsin 17 Arkansas 14
LSU 41 Notre Dame 14

There has never been a year that these schools have all played in the post-season. So it is particularly gratifying that they all have won.

Ramping Up for 2007: Part 3

Events in the Middle East should be sufficient warning that history still matters. But even a sensitive planner/designer can struggle to figure out what that really means. How do we balance the desires and needs of today with the histories around us? I've been lucky enough during my sabbatical to read some short histories that have me focused on these issues than usual.

New Jersey continues to be an interesting puzzle to me. We are more like Europe than California when you consider the ways that so many different pieces of land in New Jersey have a significant history. But, unlike much of Europe, we have yet to develop a real model of how to value these histories and how to treat these properties. Especially since they are so frequently located in points of conflict with other needs and interests of the community. Preservation New Jersey picks 10 endangered places each year and the pattern is stunning. Many of these aren't hidden away country cabins where George Washington's cousin spent a night, but are substantial structures hidden in plain sight in the urban landscapes that so many New Jerseyans speed through. Check out these from Trenton, Jersey City, and Camden. And some are just things that we taked for granted like old hotels and trees.

On Sunday, the Times described how some historic properties are re-entering the private realm since their public hasn't stepped up to embrace them. These clearly seems like the sort of pattern that we will live to regret in a few decades. Who's fault is this? What are we supposed to do about it?

Some of the problem is simply awareness. It is exciting to see a sustained growth of organizations that are helping track these histories and make them increasingly accessible. For instance the National Assocaition of Olmsted Parks is putting lists of projects online (especially with help from the NPS). And I've recently been revisiting the wonderful resource, Pioneers of American Landscape Design, which catalogs a long list of forgotten historic designers. I think it is one of the most enjoyable and underappreciated books on landscape architecture.

Bethesda Terrace

Great graphics from the NY Times, as usual.

Central Park's centerpiece, Bethesda Terrace, is going to return to its original glory with a long promised overhaul. The 3-dimensional diagram helps explain the work, which will include returning the plaza's tiles which have been in storage since the 1980s.

Ramping Up for 2007: Part 2

There is serious concern about the ways that GIS threatens privacy. Daniel Sui writes about what he calls Stolen Geography. I generally agree with his basic premise that technology is allowing more and more information about us to be used in ways that rob us of some funamental privacy and, in turn, robs us of our own private places. But I am troubled by the examples he uses in the column.

For instance, he highlights the use of aerial photography of Barbara Streisand's property as a new, technologically enabled way that people are violating her privacy. Yet, for decades, people have been able to fly over these same properties (at a safe altitude) and see what they could see. The ability to photograph it hasn't changed much at all. But the ability to publish it has changed, especially when you intersect the Internet with California's anti-paparazzi statute. That's the change. A similar change is the change in records about property ownership, which have always been a matter of public record.

I appreciate that California wants to protect their most treasured natural resource (celebrities) and I certainly appreciate that they are worried about inappropriate violations of privacy.

At least the photos, taken with an explicit public purpose in mind, are a private product. But the property data are a form of public records whose public accessibility is key to their purpose. How can you challenge your tax assessment or check property boundaries? How else can reporters and investigators look into tricky land deals? The transparency is important to establish the trust between the citizens and their government.

Bowls: 3 down

Rutgers 38 Kansas State 10
Kentucky 28 Clemson 20
Wisconsin 17 Arkansas 14
LSU on Wednesday

This is the first time all four schools have made it to a bowl. Imagine the chances of all four winning them.

Ramping Up for 2007: Part 1

Coming off of sabbatical I am trying to refill my head with the sorts of ideas and information that I need to shape my courses for the spring - especially Fundamentals of Enviromental Planning.

One thing I've been doing is revisiting the basic problems plaguing so many of our communities at the intersection of environment and race. How is it that decade after decade, so many minorities who try to improve their lot in life seem to end up in dangerous, unsustainable positions? Even when government offers them solutions, they never seem to work out as planned. Certainly my interest in groups like Future City Inc. and the Green Map System are an effort to dig into this a little more. But there are other folks who grapple with this stuff every day.

One of those folks is Majora Carter, who leads Sustainable South Bronx. Having received a MacArthur fellowship in 2005, she was a featured speaker at Google's TED in 2006. In a great 20 minute video, Carter talked about the need to get grassroots groups to the table during the decision making process rather than after the fact. More importantly, she made an impassioned presentation about how SSB is making its impact with visionary projects like teaching area residents skills so they can be engaged professionally building green roof projects - employment and environmental improvement are wrapped in one. She says, "Green is the New Black".

This weekend the NY Times ran an op-ed guest column called "The Last Race Problem" by Orlando Patterson. As a sociology professor at Harvard, Patterson starts with some strong credentials for his exploration of how the black community continues some of its struggles with segregation. He points to the ways that schools are even more segregated than in the 1960s and that black neighborhoods often remain self-segregated. "[B]lacks generally prefer to live in neighborhoods that are at least 40 percent black." Additionally, "we learn from repeated polls that whites say they are comfortable living in neighborhoods that are approximately 25 percent black." His final suggestion is that if the black community wants to get serious about improving their own situation, the black middle class may need to follow the lead of other minority groups and sacrifice their automonomy and force integration through changes in their own lives. Its a short column and hard to know the specifics he has in mind, but it shows a very different way of looking at some of the same issues that Majora raises. (It also dovetails with another recent news article that detailed the challenges for a middle class black family to hire a nanny that can work in these segregated neighborhoods.)
The Times also maintains a web page on Race that I had not before seen.

A little provocation goes a long ways on an issue like race. It isn't about A solution as much as vigilently continuing to work towards improvement and always studying what is working and what isn't.

Watch the video.
Read the op-ed piece.
Think about the future.

UPDATE: On 1/2, the Star-Ledger wrote about Corey Booker's one-kid-at-a-time approach to dealing with urban issues. We also watched the movie about Booker's first run at Mayor, Street Fight. Booker's approach is not at all inconcsistent with the things these other approaches, but it certainly has its own style and flavor. And, the movie really reminds you of how many issues are woven into the tattered urban fabric of a place like Newark.