705-236 Designing Conserved Natural Landscapes

705-174 Designing the Local Urban Landscape plus 705-294 Plants & Planting Design. 705-195 Landscape Materials and 705-171 Landscape Graphics

This is a studio-based subject dealing with the planning, design and management of predominantly natural areas that are threatened by development pressures and require initiation of conservation measures. The sites dealt with may include derelict sites for rehabilitation or natural sites requiring protection in urban, urban fringe or rural areas. These can range in scale from 5 ha to 25 ha. Techniques of site analysis and the design and planning of landscapes posessing significant conservation value are introduced. Principles of landscape ecology, as they pertain to habitat patches, corridors and larger landscape matrices are explored in both spatial and temporal dimensions.

On completion of the subject students should be able to:

• Demonstrate understanding of how to conduct landscape analyses at various environmental scales.

• Formulate design strategies aimed at conservation of critical and signicant natural, scenic and cultural landscape resources.

On completion of the subject students should have developed the following skills and capabilities:

• Creative thinking capacities.

• Spatial analysis.

• Critical thinking.

• Ability to seek out, evaluate and retrieve information from multiple sources.

• Ability to comprehend concepts and express them lucidly, graphically, orally and textually.

• Team work skills.

• Time management skills.

• Understanding of ethics involved in knowledge creation and usage.

Progressive assessment of project and written work, equivalent of not more than 5000 words (or equivalent). Assessments are based on practical landscape analysis, planning and design projects that are graphically, textually and/or verbally presented. Field work exercises (site analysis) that accompany the project work are also required. Individual and group assignments, in the form of graphic and written plan(s) and/or report(s), comprise 80% of the assessment. This work is comprised of three separate submissions over the semester. Fifteen percent of the overall assessment is given for class presentations of the three assigned projects. Class attendance over the term of the semester accounts for 5% of the overall assessment.