Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Preface

Context

What's New

Organization of the Book

Educational Uses

Acknowledgments

Part I: Process and Tools

Chapter 1: Shaping the Built Environment

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Toward Sustainable Built Environments

1.3 The Power of Place, the Role of Design

1.4 Site-Planning Process

1.5 Knowledge, Skills, and Values

1.6 Conclusion

Chapter 2: Visualization of Spatial Information

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Graphic Communication

2.3 Mapping Fundamentals

2.4 Principles of Effective Graphic Communication

2.5 Base Maps

2.6 Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

2.7 Conclusion

Part II: Site Selection and Programming

Chapter 3: Site Selection

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Site Selection Scope

3.3 The Site Selection Process

3.4 Conclusion

Chapter 4: Programming

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Programming Methods

4.3 Program Documentation

4.4 Conclusion

Part III: Site Inventory and Analysis

Chapter 5: Site Inventory: Physical Attributes

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Parcel Size and Shape

5.3 Topography

5.4 Geology

5.5 Hydrology

5.6 Soils

5.7 Climate

5.8 Natural Hazards

5.9 Conclusion

Chapter 6: Site Inventory: Biological Attributes

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Ecological Communities

6.3 Trees

6.4 Wildlife

6.5 Conclusion

Chapter 7: Site Inventory: Cultural Attributes

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Land Use and Tenure

7.3 Land-Use Regulation

7.4 Property Value

7.5 Public Infrastructure

7.6 Building and Neighborhood Character

7.7 Historic Resources

7.8 Sensory Perception

7.9 Conclusion

Chapter 8: Site Analysis: Integration and Synthesis

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Site Carrying Capacity

8.3 Suitability Analysis

8.4 Integration and Synthesis

8.5 Conclusion

Part IV: Design and Implementation

Chapter 9: Conceptual Design

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Context-Sensitive Design

9.3 Design Determinants

9.4 Creativity and Conceptual Design

9.5 The Conceptual Design Process

9.6 Anatomy of a Concept Plan

9.7 Concept Plan Graphics

9.8 Concept Evaluation and Refinement

9.9 Conclusion

Chapter 10: Design Development

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Sustainability and Livability

10.3 Design Theory

10.4 Open Space

10.5 Circulation Systems

10.6 Buildings

10.7 Conclusion

Chapter 11: Project Implementation

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Quality by Design

11.3 Construction Documentation

11.4 Contract Administration

11.5 Permitting and Approvals

11.6 Conclusion

Appendix: Resources

Introduction

Federal Agencies (United States)

Federal Sources (International)

State Sources (United States)

Nonprofit Organizations

Professional Associations

Commercial Sites

Glossary

References

Index

Wiley Books on Sustainable Design

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

LaGro, James A.

Site analysis : a contextual approach to sustainable land planning and site design / James A.

LaGro, Jr.-2nd ed.

p. cm.

First ed. published 2001.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-471-79798-2 (cloth)

1. Building sites-Planning. 2. Building sites-Environmental aspects.

3. Land use-Planning. 4. Land use-Environmental aspects. I. Title.

NA2540.5.L34 2008

720.28-dc22 2007010270

ISBN: 978-1-118-17455-5 (epub)

ISBN: 978-1-118-17582-8 (mobi)

ISBN: 978-1-118-17491-3 (epdf)

Preface

Context

A context-sensitive approach to sustainable planning and development helps to protect public health, safety, and welfare. By avoiding inherent site problems, or constraints, and by capitalizing on inherent site assets, or opportunities, site planners can limit long-term maintenance costs and, more important, reduce the risks to life and property from natural hazards. The careful analysis of sites—and the site's context—can lead to better development proposals and, ultimately, to higher-quality built environments.

Qualified site planners and designers are vital to this process. Proposals for carefully sited projects may receive faster approvals and permitting, improved marketability, and rent and sales premiums (Bookout, 1994). The emphasis of the second edition, like the first, is on the site planning process and the organization, analysis, and communication of information throughout this process. This second edition keeps the same structure and format as the first but delves into greater depth within each phase of the site planning process.

What's New

New content has been added to every chapter of this second edition. Substantial revisions were made to Chapter 1 (Shaping the Built Environment), Chapter 2 (Visualization of Spatial Information), Chapter 3 (Site Selection), Chapter 6 (Site Inventory: Biological Attributes), Chapter 7 (Site Inventory: Cultural Attributes), Chapter 8 (Site Analysis: Integration and Synthesis), Chapter 9 (Conceptual Design), Chapter 10 (Design Development), and Chapter 11 (Project Implementation). Chapter 10 from the first edition was divided and expanded to create Chapters 10 and 11 in the second edition. This revised edition explores in more detail the linkages between site conditions and ecologically sustainable development—and redevelopment—of the built environment. More attention is also given to finer-scale site and building design issues and to the development regulations and design review processes that influence the shaping of the built environment.

Organization of the Book

This book is divided into four parts. Part I, Process and Tools, contains Chapter 1 (Shaping the Built Environment) and Chapter 2 (Visualization of Spatial Information). The first chapter summarizes the site planning and design process and places site planning and design in the broader context of sustainable planning and development. The second chapter addresses the basic principles of mapping and graphic communication in site planning and design.

Part II, Site Selection and Programming, also has two chapters. Chapter 3 (Site Selection) examines the goals and methods of site suitability analysis leading to the comparison and selection of sites. Chapter 4 (Programming) focuses on programming methods such as user surveys, focus groups, and market analyses.

Part III, Site Inventory and Analysis, is the core of the book. Chapter 5 (Site Inventory: Physical Attributes) and Chapter 6 (Site Inventory: Biological Attributes) cover a wide array of physical and biological attributes that, depending on the unique features of the site and the program, may be analyzed during the site planning and design process. Chapter 7 (Site Inventory: Cultural Attributes) concentrates on documenting relevant cultural, historic, and regulatory attributes. Chapter 8 (Site Analysis: Integration and Synthesis) describes how site opportunities and constraints for specific project programs are identified and documented in support of the subsequent phases of the site planning and design process.

The last three chapters of the book are in Part IV, Design and Implementation. Chapter 9 (Conceptual Design) addresses the spatial organization of the programmed uses and activities on the site. Chapter 10 (Design Development) addresses the spatial articulation of the organizational framework established in the conceptual design phase. This chapter explores design theory and “form-based” development regulations, which communities are increasingly employing to guide development and shape changes to the built environment. Chapter 11 (Project Implementation), the book's final chapter, addresses the permitting and approval processes, techniques for mitigating development impacts, and construction documentation and administration. The book concludes with an Appendix and a Glossary. The Appendix lists both commercial, non-profit, and government resources for data and other relevant planning and design information.

Educational Uses

The Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards (CLARB) conducted a task analysis of the profession of landscape architecture in North America in 1998. One goal of the survey was to document the types of work performed by practicing landscape architects. The respondents were asked to identify their work tasks and rank them in terms of each activity's perceived contribution to the protection of public health, safety, and welfare. This is an important question because state licensing laws for landscape architects, architects, and other professions are explicitly intended to protect public health, safety, and welfare. Completed surveys were received from a randomly selected sample of more than 2000 landscape architects. Six of the fifteen most important tasks listed in the CLARB survey—including two of the top three—involve either site selection or site analysis (Table I.1).

Table I.1 Partial results of a survey of more than 2000 landscape architects. Selfassessment of work tasks (by rank) that affect public health, safety, and welfare

Rank | Task
2 | Identify relevant laws, rules, and regulations governing the project.
3 | Evaluate natural site conditions and ecosystems (for example, slopes, wetlands, soils, vegetation, climate).
6 | Identify required regulatory approvals.
10 | Evaluate the capability of the site and the existing infrastructure to support the program requirements.
11 | Elicit user's intentions and determine needs.
15 | Determine the opportunities and constraints of the site.

Source: CLARB, 1998, p. 7.

This second edition of Site Analysis is intended for students in introductory design studios and site inventory/analysis courses in landscape architecture and students in site planning courses in architecture and urban planning. These include both graduate and undergraduate courses taught in universities throughout North America and, to a more limited extent, in Europe, Central and South America, Africa, and Asia. This book is also intended for practitioners studying for professional licensing exams in landscape architecture, architecture, or planning. Although the book is most relevant to professional practice in North America, the text also should have utility in Europe, Asia, and other developed and developing areas. Finally, this book also can serve as a resource to elected local officials and citizens in the United States who serve on local boards and commissions charged with reviewing site plans and land development proposals.

Acknowledgments

Maps and other project graphics for the first edition were generously provided by: Paul Kissinger (Edward D. Stone, Jr., and Associates); Jim Fetterman (The HOK Planning Group); Jack Scholl (Environmental Planning & Design); Fran Hegeler (Wallace, Roberts & Todd, LLC); Meg Connolley (Land Design); and Bob Thorpe (R. J. Thorpe and Associates).

Several educators provided insightful reviews of an early outline and synopsis of the book's first edition. Constructive critiques were received from Jack Ahern (University of Massachusetts); Gary Clay (California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo); Randy Gimblett (Arizona State University); Paul Hsu (Oklahoma State University); David Hulse (University of Oregon); Nate Perkins (University of Guelph); Rob Ribe (University of Oregon); and Peter Trowbridge (Cornell University). Additional assistance was provided by Rosi LaGro and David LaGro.

For the second edition, generous contributions of additional maps and project graphics were made by Jim Fetterman (The HOK Planning Group); Fran Hegeler and Jim Stickley (Wallace, Roberts & Todd); and Paul Moyer (EDAW, Alexandria). The revision process was aided by several published reviews of the first edition and by constructive suggestions from three anonymous reviewers of the author's second edition proposal to the publisher. David LaGro also provided helpful comments on the proposal. Bridget Lang advised, cajoled, and offered thoughtful and constructive reviews of the entire draft manuscript.

Margaret Cummins, acquisitions editor at John Wiley and Sons, facilitated the production of both the first and second editions. Additional assistance from the publisher was provided by Jennifer Mazurkie, James Harper, Kim Aleski, Lauren Poplawski, Amy Zarkos, and copyeditor Elizabeth Marotta.

Part I

Process and Tools

Site planning occurswithin an environmental and cultural context. As human populations have grown, society's impacts on the earth's ecosystems have increased. Sustainable approaches to site planning attempt to minimize development impacts both on the site and off-site. Vital environmental processesmust be protected and, where feasible, degraded ecosystems restored.

Part I of this book summarizes a contextual approach to site planning and design. The first chapter addresses important design goals that can help shape better, and more sustainable, built environments. The second chapter addresses the important role of mapping and other forms of graphic communication in the site planning and design process.

Chapter 1

Shaping the Built Environment

Sustainable design balances human needs (rather than human wants) with the carrying capacity of the natural and cultural environments. It minimizes environmental impacts, and it minimizes importation of goods and energy as well as the generation of waste.

U.S. National Park Service

1.1 Introduction

1.1.1 Functions of Nature

Landscapes have long been settled, cultivated, and in other ways modified by humans. Yet our ability to alter the earth's atmosphere, oceans, and landscapes has exceeded our current capacity to mitigate the impacts of these changes to our environment. Advances in telecommunications technologies, combined with extensive transportation networks and sprawl-inducing land use regulations, continue to loosen the geographic constraints on land development spatial patterns.

“Economic constraints on locational behavior are relaxing rapidly, and, as they do, the geography of necessity gives way to a geography of choice. Transportation costs, markets, and raw materials no longer determine the location of economic activities. We have developed an information-based economy in which dominant economic activities and the people engaged in them enjoy unparalleled locational flexibility. In this spatial context, amenity and ecological considerations are more important locational factors than in the past. Cities located in amenity regions of North America are growing more rapidly than others and such trends will intensify as society becomes more footloose” (Abler et al., 1975, p. 301).

The earth's environmental systems perform a wide array of functions that are essential to human health and welfare. For example, nature's “infrastructure” helps protect the quality of the air we breathe and the water we drink, and it provides many other environmental “goods and services.” In Functions of Nature, deGroot 1992 organizes nature's beneficial services into four functional categories: production, regulation, carrier, and information (Table 1.1). These services sustain life on the planet.

Table 1.1 Landscapes encompass natural environmental systems that directly benefit humans

Function | Goods or Services
Production | Oxygen
| Water
| Food and fiber
| Fuel and energy
| Medicinal resources
Regulation | Storage and recycling of organic matter
| Decomposition and recycling of human waste
| Regulation of local and global climate
Carrier | Space for settlements
| Space for agriculture
| Space for recreation
Information | Aesthetic resources
| Historic (heritage) information
| Scientific and educational information

Source: Adapted from deGroot, 1992, Table 2.0–1.

The following indicators reveal, however, that human activities are degrading the environment and imposing serious impacts on the earth's capacity to sustain life:

Tropical forests are shrinking

Topsoil losses exceed new soil formation

New deserts are formed annually

Lakes are dying or drying up

Groundwater tables are falling as water demand exceeds aquifer recharge rates

Rates of plant and animal species extinction are increasing

Groundwater continues to be contaminated with pesticides and other contaminants

Global climate change and warming (mean temperature is projected to rise)

Sea level is projected to rise between 1.4 meter and 2.2 meters by 2100

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