LA5303 Urban Greening: Technologies and Techniques

Driven by global urbanization trends, landscape architects are increasingly called upon to sensitively and creatively introduce landscapes in highly urbanized settings. To achieve this, fundamental knowledge of the challenges that the urban environment poses, solutions to these challenges, as well as the use of R&D to develop innovations are important in the skill set of landscape architects. This course introduces students to contemporary and emerging technologies and techniques that have become essential components of urban greening design and practices. It traces the origins of such technologies and techniques as responses to challenges and opportunities in creating a green and ecologically-balanced urban environment, explains their scientific underpinnings, and illustrates with examples of real-life applications. It emphasizes the role of R&D in a continual process to improve the performance of greening in areas of sustainability, ecological health, and liveability of the built environment. Topics covered include metrics used to measure greenery, technologies used to integrate greenery with the grey and blue elements of the built environment, and plants as the basic building blocks of functional landscapes. The course is conducted through lectures, class discussions, and site visits demonstrating real-life applications as well as R&D in progress.