Reconnecting Landscapes: Resilient Planting Design in Ecologically Deficient Zones - 1.0 PDH (LA CES/HSW) / 1.0 GBCI SITES-Specific CE

On sites dominated by infrastructure and impervious surfaces, landscape architects are expected to create successfully integrated, ecologically rich environments. Through a diverse selection of projects, this session will discuss how practitioners can design, implement, and advocate for resilient landscapes in spaces where ecology is feared, considered as an afterthought, or ignored altogether.

The GBCI course ID for this course is 0920023419, providing SITES-specific CE hours required to maintain SITES AP credentials. Participants will need to pass the exam at the end of the presentation in order to receive a certificate of completion. Participants will need to self-report CE hours through their credentials account on https://sitesonline.usgbc.org.

Learning objectives:

• Examine current strategies for developing ecologies and increasing ecosystem services through successful horticulture and planting design in harsh urban environments and areas that are not hospitable to vegetation.
• Understand the benefits and challenges of successional planting design and utilizing plant communities in landscapes dominated by transportation and infrastructure, as a functional, resilient, and sustainable approach.
• Learn about opportunities of performative planting as a critical component to green infrastructure and stormwater management in climate-vulnerable landscapes, and the advantages of increasing pervious surfaces in urban areas.
• Gain insight into project-based social, environmental, and economic considerations of incremental and large-scale sustainable planting design striving for big impacts and demanding a rebalance of ecology and infrastructure.