Sustainable Infrastructure: The Guide to Green Engineering and

Design (review)
Andrea Wedul

Landscape Journal: design, planning, and management of the land,

Volume 30, Number 2, 2011, pp. 319-321 (Article)

Published by University of Wisconsin Press

DOI: 10.1353/lnd.2011.0037

For additional information about this article

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/lnd/summary/v030/30.2.wedul.html

Access Provided by UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS, LONDON at 02/10/13 8:22PM GMT

supports an illusion of coherence and order. In another, the Shea, Ammon. 2008. Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730
designed landscapes featured in portraits often covey the so- Pages. New York: Penguin Group.
cial status and importance assigned to gardens.
Judith K. Major, professor of architecture at the University of Kan-
Attempting to be precise about the degree of certainty
sas, is a landscape historian and author of To Live in the New
with which words may be associated with images, the edi-
World: A. J. Downing and American Landscape Gardening (MIT
tors formulated a system that assigns a label to each caption
Press, 1997).
to indicate the relationship of the image to the term in ques-
tion. As I read the captions, however, I found myself constantly
reviewing the meanings of inscribed, associated, and at- Sustainable Infrastructure: The Guide to Green
tributed. Could a simpler classification have been developed? Engineering and Design
One more objection before closingthe inspiration for the S. Bry Sart. 2010. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons. 384
title, as explained in the introduction, was Keywords: A Vo- pages. $80, hardcover.
cabulary of Culture and Society (1976) by Raymond Williams, ISBN: 978-0-470453-61-2
because both works share a cultural rather than etymologi-
cal approach to language (1). I question the appropriateness Reviewed by Andrea Wedul
of the borrowing. As Daniel T. Rodgers points out, Common Our profession has long sought to both quantify and qualify
words and keywords are distinctly different species . . . A key- our context, yet we often struggle with the passage of time and
word was by definition a term which changed meaning over the temporal nature of the land and our designs. As we mea-
time (Rodgers 1988, 670). Very few of the 100 landscape de- sure the change of a tree by caliper and rod alike, how can we
sign terms shifted meaning, although some such as Dutch quantify the impacts on associated systems and environs from
style and gardenesque came to have a negative connotation the planting of that single tree? Further, how do those impacts
over the course of 150 years. Williams keywords are words with ebb and flow in time in a state of dynamic equilibrium as a
deep conflicts of value and belief. Statue and pot are not. response to the qualifying forces and influences?
At a length of 724 pages, Keywords in American Land- Previous stop-loss, or reactionary approaches to infra-
scape Design is a tricky book to review, and these criticisms are structure first meted by ancient civilizations were necessary
minor in relation to the wealth of new information and stun- in order to exercise control over wild forces within natural
ning images offered. Book lovers will welcome the heft of the systems that endangered human existence. As science and so-
seven-pound volume and will relish the handsome layout and ciety grew to further understand the human place within the
the feel of smooth, heavy paper. Others will be bothered by its natural world, this approach receded from modern designs as
weight and the attendant difficulties of handling the diction- our understanding of larger systemsecological, hydrologi-
ary, and will wonder why the publication is not online. For my cal, energetic, and culturalincreased. There is an ongoing
part, Keywords in American Landscape Design will have a per- shift in the once myopic perspective of mechanized systems
manent resting place on my dictionary stand at home. to now include the principles of varying scale, reach, temporal
aspects, and impact of design efforts. We can look to gradients,
energy flows, and ecosystems as design bases. We can use
REFERENCES
benchmarks and metrics in lieu of the completion of master
Brewer, Charlotte. 1993. The Second Edition of the Oxford English
plans as measures for success. We can look to the functioning
Dictionary. Review of English Studies, New Series 44 (175):
of the whole site within its context as a measure of the integra-
313342. http: // www.jstor.org / stable / 517278 [Novem-
tion of site design into the surrounding environment. In hopes
ber 24, 2010].
of developing an infrastructure to complement this new de-
Kramarae, Cheris, and Paula A. Treichler. 1985. A Feminist Dic-
sign approach, Sustainable Infrastructure: The Guide to Green
tionary. Boston, London, and Henley: Pandora Press.
Engineering and Design proposes a holistic, systems-based
Rodgers, Daniel T. 1988. Keywords: A Reply. Journal of the
History of Ideas. 49 (4): 669676. http: // www.jstor.org / strategy to the design of infrastructure, rather than a piece-
stable / 2709679 [November 28, 2010]. meal assemblage of a disparate set of devices, disciplines, and
design approaches.

Books 319
 S. Bry Sart reconceptualizes the design of infrastruc- natural system interrelationship and ecological baseline es-
ture. Applicable systems, principles, and gradients provide the tablishment as reference to ongoing human development
base of understanding for the analysis and design of later con- pattern and process). Each design framework is individually
struction specifications. Sustainable Infrastructure proposes tailored to structure and ground each project into specific
a three-part design process to achieve this: (1) identification and site-relevant systemic associations at a variety of scales,
of the overall framework approaches pertinent to sustain- as well as to provide reference to available metrics for assess-
able infrastructure and systems design; (2) identification of ment of success. Sart additionally points repeatedly to the
integral resource networks and systems for future framework five pillars of sustainability, each being integral to the work-
assemblages; and (3) assembly of critical design applications ing model for design: water, energy, community, ecology, and
and interventions into a system-based framework for sustain- materials. Each framework for design is analyzed for its in-
able infrastructure. This triumvirate of design tenets provides herent strengths and weaknesses, as well as its application to
a dynamic way to design with temporal benchmarks based scale and extent of project so that the designer may choose
on system responses rather than static visual cues. The ad- appropriately.
ditional benefit of this approach is that the designer can as- Part II analyzes each of these four systems and provides a
sign associated metrics to quantify system response to each basis for the construction of these designs. Chapters on water
design measure, as well as to provide a scientific approach to conservation and supply, water management, resource flows,
replicate the process and analyze results. An additional note and site systems anchor this portion of the book. Conven-
provides a set of current metrics from around the world for tional approaches to water management often employ engi-
choosing the best fit for each specific design, as well as to neering as the basis of analysis and design. As a counterpoint
provide assessment of the efficacy of differing methodologies to this method, Sustainable Infrastructure instead approaches
and approaches. water supply from the hydrologic point of view via the water
Sustainable Infrastructures three sections build from budget / balance and flows. This vision engages a shed-based
idea to implementation: The process and systems of sus- system of networks and connections that are not isolated, but
tainable design, sustainable resource systems, and design are rather interconnected above and below the earths surface.
applications. The temporal nature of water flows are the undercurrent and
The book leads off with an examination of resource ef- crux of understanding where in time conclusions are to be
ficiency analysis through LEED and other metrics as the basis drawn and to where and when they are projected in a design.
for the analysis of methodology and implementation effects Chapters include timely information on grey- and black-
on the overall systems. The premise here is that all organisms water systems, water harvesting, urban stormwater treatment
live in complex multi-systemic environments that maintain systems, and case studies, as well as the natural flows of wa-
dynamic equilibria, or changing balances, which ebb and ter in the hydrologic cycle and vertical strata. Impediments to
flow by the stasis or dynamism of the collective forces acting implementation and barriers to success, and successful case
on them. These systems are complex, and it follows that our studies provide additional support for structure and imple-
understanding of and design responses for infrastructure sys- mentation of these systems. Interesting examples provide
tems must also be complex and comprehensive. Current de- strategies even for homeowners (small sites) to stratify water
sign teams must play to individual team members strengths. use systems into grey-black-blue systems and provide imple-
In this section, Sart provides the setting for each potential mentation and mitigation strategies such as mulch basins and
player and their roles. constructed treatment wetlands. Moreover, Satr provides
Four systems for developing sustainable infrastructure measures to assure the long-term success of these systems, as
frameworks emerge from Sherwood Design Engineers (Sa- well as the support to overcome conventional arguments for
trs company) knowledge base: (1) The pillars of sustainabil- their eventual failure. Interesting chapters follow on contami-
ity; (2) the scale-density framework; (3) the transect (Andres nants and material flows, energy and material sourcing, and
Duanys seven-zone assessment of balanced land use de- life-cycle assessments of materials and terminal (no further
sign); and (4) the built form-ecology framework (human and use or re-use) products. Energy balance and systems form the

320 Landscape Journal 30:211

basis for the design, but human systems are always integrated which we form a sustainable and integrated horizon for infra-
into these networks. structure and site design.
The last section of the book contains design examples in
Andrea Wedul is Adjunct Assistant Professor of Landscape Archi-
case-study format. The case studies apply these approaches
tecture at the University of Minnesota and serves on the Board
at varying scales, from that of city or region to an individual
of Directors for Metroblooms, a non-prot dedicated to water re-
building or site. One example offers innovative plans and ob-
source stewardship.
jectives for a wastewater master planlooking specifically at
the energy inputs and footprints, costs, treatment effective-
ness, and overall strategieswithin a larger design framework Places for the Spirit: Traditional African
for Pearl Island, Panama. Community and ecology, people American Gardens
and science, design and technology are interwoven here in a photographs by Vaughn Sills, foreword by Hilton Als, and
well-thought-out plan for now and the future, employing im- introduction by Lowry Pei. 2010. San Antonio, Texas: Trinity
plementation and monitoring strategies, as well as financial University Press. 138 pages, 85 black and white photographs.
resource generators. Each example provides a research and $29.95, clothbound.
analysis base, designed response or system, and the supple- ISBN 978-1-595340-64-1
mental graphics that complement and ensure the visual com-
munication of the ideas. Reviewed by Diane Jones
Sustainable Infrastructure provides solid footing for Vaughn Sills new collection of photographs offers a layered
shifting infrastructure toward infra-systems. Moreover, the look into African-American Gardens of the South. This book
fabric of these infra-systems is woven together by a tempo- is an important historical record of African-American culture
ral thread through which its history may be traced, but does and traditions, but Sills photographs offer much more. The
not pre-determine patterned outcomes in order to elegantly photographs provide a view into the gardens as if invited by
respond to present pressures. As such, this is both a research the owner to take part in an intimate experience. Sills allows
and design guide that employs a set of parameters from which the viewer to participate in the creation of a secret world, one
to form site-specific design teams and designs, without en- of deep meaning that is only fully comprehended by expe-
casing the design responses in a rigid step-by-step process riencing time in relation to existence. The photographs de-
that would prevent dynamism in response to the site itself. It pict space and object with an ethereal quality that glimmers
distills down to a very understandable level the development throughout Sills photographs, drawing the viewer in through
of the framework for a relevant level of sensitive temporal glowing and reflected light.
understanding of critical systems through design. This is an The photographs appear as vintage representations from
approachable and valuable resource to landscape architects, decades agoreferencing the capture of a classical period of
engineers, planners, officials and administrators at all levels of African-American lifeeven though some were taken in the
government, natural resource managers, and knowledge seek- late 1980s and as recently as 2000. Sills captures the unex-
ers alike. There are many voices to be heard. pected in the gardens, yet the objects photographed appear
In order to design within this cacophony, we each must: so at home that one puzzles over whether the objects were
1) understand the past and present systems at play, 2) under- placed or discovered. Sills poses the questions of whether
stand the design resources and knowledge available, 3) under- these objects were from an archeological discovery that un-
stand the key collaborators and roles to form a comprehensive covered an ancient and mystical place and time, or a repre-
design team, 4) understand the specific individual systems to sentational aesthetic that strategically laid out the objects as
which you will designing, 5) understand the multiple comple- compositions. Noticeably, the photographs have a consis-
mentary scales of design, 6) understand the measures of suc- tency in arrangement, numbers of objects, and the variations
cess post-design, and 7) form a response to each measure to within the photographic frame. The objects in the gardens are
ensure transcendence and dynamism of design application. at once complex yet ordinary. Shoes, bottles, tins, rocks, tires,
From this approach, we may find a new common ground from shells, jars, and even pipes fill the spaces. The gardens exalt

Books 321