Residential Landscape Sustainability: A Checklist Tool Book

Acknowledgements     vii
Putting residential development in a sustainable context     1
Introduction     1
Definitions of sustainable development and sustainable landscape     3
Sustainable development     3
Sustainable landscape     4
Sustainable development in English planning and development     8
The key role of housing in sustainable development     12
Current concepts and initiatives for delivering sustainable homes in England     17
What impact have these initiatives had on delivering sustainable residential communities?     22
References     25
Opportunities for improving the sustainable profile of new residential developments     29
Introduction     29
Conservation of resources and minimisation of pollution and waste     29
Energy consumption and microclimate control     29
Encouraging walking and cycling     33
Specification and detailed design of hard landscape materials     37
Specification and detailed design of soft landscape materials - vegetation     52
Water management     63
Enhancement of site ecological function and human well-being     73
Site ecological function     73
Providing for thehealth and well-being of residents     79
References     89
Creating a residential landscape sustainability checklist     99
Introduction     99
A review of sustainable checklist tools for residential development     99
A detailed description of the template BRE EcoHomes method     104
Adapting the EcoHomes method for landscape assessments     106
The Energy Category     106
The Transport Category     108
The Pollution Category     108
The Materials Category     110
The Water Category     112
The Ecology and Land Use Category     113
The Health and Well-Being Category     113
Adjusting the EcoHomes weighting factors     116
Setting compliance standards     116
Judging visual qualities     117
General limitations of the checklist assessment approach     118
References     119
Case studies: applying the Residential Landscape Sustainability Checklist     121
Introduction     121
Greenwich Millennium Village, London     122
Childwall, Liverpool     125
Evaluation of the case studies against the Residential Landscape Sustainability Checklist      126
The Energy Category     126
The Transport Category     127
The Pollution Category     128
The Materials Category     133
The Water Category     142
The Ecology and Land Use Category     142
The Health and Well-Being Category     144
What factors encouraged and discouraged residential landscape sustainability?     150
Factors which contribute to delivering residential landscape sustainability     151
Factors which may undermine landscape sustainability     152
Conclusion     155
References     156
Detailed Residential Landscape Sustainability Checklist     157
Index     193