Study Guide Ch. 1 Site Planning Basics Flashcards
Site planning
The art of arranging the external physical environment to support human behavior
Lies along the boundaries of architecture, engineering, landscape architecture, and city planning, and it is practiced by members of all of these professions.
Site plans locate structures and activities in three-dimensional space and, when appropriate, in time.
Component of smart growth and sustainable design.
Planning activities should always find a way to balance social/cultural, environmental and economic considerations
Site planning is capable of promoting the following goals
Social/cultural goals
Environment goals
Economic goals
Social/cultural goals
- promote a sense of community
- protect cultural and historic resources
- reduce crime and increase public safety
- provide equitable access to public services
- increase access to outdoor recreation
- minimize negative impacts to adjacent properties
Environmental goals
- conserve natural resources
- protect sensitive ecosystems
- preserve biodiversity
- consider development intensity and location
- reduce pollution
Economic goals
- attract investment
- drive tourism
- increase property values
- attract skilled workers
- reduce commuting times
- promote efficient land use
Benefits of effective site planning
- promoting public health, safety and welfare
- protecting the public from natural disasters/hazards
- reduced construction costs
- increased profit from development
- protecting valuable natural and cultural amenities
- supporting critical ecological processes
Smart growth and sustainable design
Share much in common but not interchangeable concepts
Share emphasis on:
- pedestrian-friendly communities,
- a respect for local context and
- a commitment to socially- and environmentally-conscious economic development
“Smart growth” principles
Address development at the regional or city scale and are enacted by government regulatory agencies through comprehensive plans, master plans and the zoning code.
Has little direct impact on site scale (except cluster development)
Sustainable Design Principles
can be found incorporated into regional-scale planning considerations, but are also manifest at the site scale. For example, specifying pervious pavement and recycled construction materials for a plaza hardscape would be considered a form of sustainable design, but not a form of smart growth.
the United Nations Brundtland Commission's definition of sustainability
meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
Primary Goals of Smart Growth Planning
- Preserving open space, farmland, scenic areas and critical environmental areas
- Directing new development toward existing communities
- Encouraging mixed land use (e.g. residential apartment buildings with ground-floor retail) and creating clustered/compact developments with a variety of housing options
- Fostering a strong sense of place
- Creating walkable communities with a variety of transportation choices
- Creating cost-effective development solutions
- Encouraging community and stakeholder collaboration
Primary Goals of Sustainable Site Planning
- Protecting existing environmental resources from degradation
- Restoring degraded environmental resources
- Re-using previously developed sites (i.e. brownfield and urban in-fill development)
- Building compact, walkable communities
- Conserving resources at all scales (e.g. reducing commuting times at the regional scale, designing energy-efficient buildings)
