UNIT I - INTRODUCTION

Ar. S. F. Salma
UNIT I
Introduction to landscape architecture
Ecology
Ecological balance
Landscape conservation
Reclamation and landscaping of derelict lands
Environmental impact assessment
 INTRODUCTION TO LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
The practice of Landscape Architecture has
influenced every public and private environment we
experience, across the centuries .

In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., considered today

the Father of Landscape Architecture, initiated a project
that would redefine the industrial city.
 Central Park, the first major landscaped public
space in urban America, was created in the
1850s as an antidote to the turbulent social
unrest, largely as the result of the country's first
wave of immigration, and a serious public
health crisis, caused by harmful environmental
conditions.

He understood that the creation of a

great public park would improve
public health and contribute greatly to
the formation of a civil society.
 The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) defined
landscape architecture as:

A science and an art [which] embraces those professional activities

relating to the systematic
planning of land areas, the design of outdoor places and
spaces, the conservation of our natural resources and the creation
of a more useful, safe and pleasant living environment.
(ASLA Handbook of Professional Practice, 1981, p. 19)
 Landscape architecture is a multi-disciplinary field,
incorporating aspects of: botany, horticulture, the fine arts,
architecture, industrial design, geology and the earth sciences,
environmental psychology, geography, and ecology.

The scope of the profession includes:

urban design;
site planning;
storm water management;
town or urban planning;
environmental restoration; parks and recreation planning;
reclamation of degraded landscapes such as mines or landfills
visual resource management;
green infrastructure planning and provision;
and private estate and residence landscape master planning and
design; all at varying scales of design, planning and management.
 INTRODUCTION TO LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

City patterns, public parks, neighborhood plans,

residential design, protected and preserved lands,
historic sites, and culturally significant places are all
proposed and designed by practitioners in the field of
Landscape Architecture.
 INTRODUCTION TO LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

Landscape Architecture combines the creative with

the analytical, the visionary with the pragmatic, the
human landscape with the larger ecological
landscape.

Both the visible and tangible, as well as the invisible

and perceived, influence how places are made by
Landscape Architects.
http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/151932/
THE AGE OF THE EARTH
 PRECAMBRIAN TIME covers the vast bulk of the
Earth's history, starting with the planet's
creation and ending with the emergence of
complex, multi celled life-forms.

PALEOZOIC ERA - A time of great change on

Earth, began with the breakup of one
supercontinent and the formation of another.
Plants became widespread. And the first
vertebrate animals colonized land.
 MESOZOIC ERA - The age of reptiles or the age
of dinosaurs. Its name is derived from the
Greek term for middle life.

CENOZOIC ERA - from the extinction of

dinosaurs to the present. The Cenozoic is
sometimes called the Age of Mammals,
because the largest land animals came during
this period.
AQUATIC AND TERRESTRIAL BIOMES
(BIOME = MAJOR ECOSYSTEM TYPE)
A. Aquatic biomes cover about 75% of the earths surface

- Wetlands - Lakes - Rivers, streams - Intertidal zones

- Oceanic pelagic biome

Coral reefs - Benthos
 LAKES
Oligotrophic Lake: Nutrient
poor, water is clear, oxygen rich;
little productivity by algae,
relatively deep with little surface
area.

Eutrophic lake: nutrient rich,

lots of algal productivity so its
oxygen poor at times, water is
murkier often a result of input of
agricultural fertilizers.
 RIVERS AND STREAMS

Organisms need adaptations so that they are not swept

away by moving water; heavily affected by man
changing the course of flow (E.g. dams and channel)
and by using rivers to dispose of waste.
WETLANDS: includes marshes, bogs, swamps, seasonal ponds.
Among richest biomes with respect to biodiversity and productivity.
Very few now exist as they are known as wastelands.
 ESTUARY: Place where freshwater stream or river merges
with the ocean. Highly productive biome; important for
fisheries and feeding places for water fowl. Often heavily
polluted from river input so many fisheries are now lost.
 INTERTIDAL ZONE: Alternately
submerged and exposed by daily
cycle of tides. Often polluted by
oil that decreases biodiversity.

CORAL REEFS: occur in neritic

zones of warm, tropical water,
dominated by cnidarians (corals);
very productive, protect land
from storms; most are now dying
from rise in global temperatures
 DEEP-SEA VENT: Occurs in benthic zone; Diverse, unusual
organisms; energy comes not from light but from chemicals
released from the magma.
B. TERRESTRIAL BIOMES

- Tropical forest
- Savanna
- Desert
- Chaparral
- Temperate grassland
- Temperate deciduous forest
- Coniferous forest
- Tundra
 TROPICAL FOREST:
- Vertical stratification with trees in
canopy blocking light to bottom strata.
- Many trees covered by epiphytes
(plants that grow on other plants).
 CONIFEROUS FOREST: Largest terrestrial biome on earth, old
growth forests rapidly disappearing, usually receives lots of
moisture as rain or snow.
 TEMPERATE DECIDUOUS FOREST: Mid-latitudes with
moderate amounts of moisture, distinct vertical strata: trees,
understory shrubs, herbaceous sub-stratum. Loss of leaves in
cold, many animals hibernate or migrate then. Original forests
lost from North America by logging and clearing.
 CHAPARRAL: Dense, spiny,
evergreen shrubs, mild rainy
winters; long, hot, dry summers.
Periodic fires, some plants require
fire for seeds to germinate.

TEMPERATE GRASSLAND:
Marked by seasonal drought and
fires, and grazing by large animals.
Rich habitat for agriculture.
 DESERT: Sparse rainfall (< 30
cm per year), plants and
animals adapted for water
storage and conservation. Can
be either very, very hot, or very
cold (e.g. Antarctica)

TUNDRA: Permafrost
(Permanent frozen ground),
bitter cold, high winds and thus
no trees. Has 20% of land
surface on earth.
ECOLOGY
 ECOLOGY - DEFINITIONS

- Ecology is the scientific study of the interactions between

organisms and their environment.
- Ecology (from greek:oikos, "house"; -logie, "study of") is the
scientific study of the relation of living organisms to Ecology
Definitions each other and their surroundings.
- Ecology is the study of the relationship between organisms
and environment.
- Ecology is the study of the distribution and abundance of
organisms (Andrewartha and Birch 1954).
- Ecology is the study of ecosystems (Odum , 1971).
 COMPONENTS OF A ECOSYSTEM

Biotic + Abiotic
 AUTOTROPHS

Organisms which can synthesize their own complex, energy rich,

organic molecules from simple inorganic molecules (e.g. green
plants synthesis sugars from CO2 and H2O)
 HETEROTROPHS
Organisms who must obtain complex, energy rich, organic
compounds form the bodies of other organisms (dead or alive)

CARNIVORES OMNIVORES

HERBIVORES
 DETRITIVORES
Heterotrophic organisms who ingest dead organic matter.
(e.g. earthworms, woodlice, millipedes)

Earth worm (Lumbricus terrestris)

 SAPROTROPHS
Heterotrophic organisms who secrete digestive enzymes onto
dead organism matter and absorb the digested material. (e.g.
fungi, bacteria)

Chanterelle (Cantherellus cibarius)

ECOLOGICAL BALANCE is a term describing how
ecosystems are organized in a state of stability where species
coexist with other species and with their environment.
Landscape Reclamation -objectives
The restoration of the health and fertility of the landscape,
sometimes leading to an improvement on the original state
of health and fertility.

A result that either allows flexibility in future land uses or

provides specifically for a planned land use.

A landscape which is visually acceptable , fits into the

surrounding landscape without discard.

The removal and prevention of pollution, fire risk and

danger.

An additional objective could also be that of providing

agreeable habitat for wildlife in a balanced ecosystem.
 DERELICT LAND
Land that, because of mining, drilling, or other industrial processes, or
by serious neglect, is unsightly and cannot be beneficially utilized
without treatment.
"Strip mining" is the practice of mining a seam of mineral, by first
removing a long strip of overlying soil and rock (the overburden). It is
most commonly used to mine coal and lignite (brown coal). Strip
mining is only practical when the ore body to be excavated is relatively
near the surface
 SURFACE MINING
Destroys landscapes, forests and wildlife habitats at the site of the mine
when trees, plants, and topsoil are cleared from the mining area.

Leads to soil erosion and destruction of agricultural land.

There is chemical contamination of ground water and waterways.

Strip mining causes dust and noise pollution

 UNDERGROUND MINING, allows coal companies to extract
deeper deposits of coal, In room-and-pillar mines, columns of coal are
left to support the ground above during the initial mining process, then
they are often taken out and the mine is left to collapse, which is
known as subsidence.

Deep Mining