Developing an Environmentally Sustainable City Through Re-Creating Landscape with Abandoned Industrial Structures
Developing an environmentally sustainable city through re-creating landscape with abandoned industrial structures.
The problem of abandoned structures contributing to a large amount of construction waste has long been recognized; it becomes an environmental threat and severely affects the sustainability of a city. However, the conventional urban planning system does not account for this problem, this will result in an endless negative loop of environmental pollution and resource depletion. A new sustainable approach should be used to address the arising issues regarding to sustainability. The paper will discuss the role of landscape architecture in a city as a planning instrument for sustainable development and High Line, New York will be explored in detail about how by preserving and re-using structure relics, abandoned industrial structures can be transformed into new green public parks that enhances the environmental sustainability of the New York city.
Urban planning plays a critical role in maintaining the resilience and increasing the quality of life in cities. Imagine a city with only conventional planning, in which it only deals with zoning, public facility, and transportation, not yet addresses issues of sustainability and awareness of pollutions. The city will continue to consume energy in an endless manner, consuming water, fuel and furthermore the non-renewable construction materials like steel, concrete, stone, and timber. Without a carefully thought out sustainable approach, the resources will just go into landfills and pollute the river streams and air and can never be retrieved again. This will deplete the natural resources and worsen the living environment for both human being and the ecosystem. This negative cycle could only have gone worse and worse. Instead, why not approach planning in sustainable ways? Turning process into a cyclic one? Adopting the cradle-to-cradle methodology in planning, and develop the city into where waste equals
The problem of abandoned structures contributing to a large amount of construction waste has long been recognized; it becomes an environmental threat and severely affects the sustainability of a city. However, the conventional urban planning system does not account for this problem, this will result in an endless negative loop of environmental pollution and resource depletion. A new sustainable approach should be used to address the arising issues regarding to sustainability. The paper will discuss the role of landscape architecture in a city as a planning instrument for sustainable development and High Line, New York will be explored in detail about how by preserving and re-using structure relics, abandoned industrial structures can be transformed into new green public parks that enhances the environmental sustainability of the New York city.
Urban planning plays a critical role in maintaining the resilience and increasing the quality of life in cities. Imagine a city with only conventional planning, in which it only deals with zoning, public facility, and transportation, not yet addresses issues of sustainability and awareness of pollutions. The city will continue to consume energy in an endless manner, consuming water, fuel and furthermore the non-renewable construction materials like steel, concrete, stone, and timber. Without a carefully thought out sustainable approach, the resources will just go into landfills and pollute the river streams and air and can never be retrieved again. This will deplete the natural resources and worsen the living environment for both human being and the ecosystem. This negative cycle could only have gone worse and worse. Instead, why not approach planning in sustainable ways? Turning process into a cyclic one? Adopting the cradle-to-cradle methodology in planning, and develop the city into where waste equals
Bibliography: 1. McDonough, W, 2002. Cradle to cradle; remaking the way we make things. 2nd ed. New York: Vintage Books. 2. Richie, A, 2009. Sustainable Urban Design. 2nd ed. USA: Taylor & Francis. 7. High Line Blog | Friends of the High Line. 2013. High Line Blog | Friends of the High Line. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.thehighline.org/blog. [Accessed 26 May 2013]. 8. David, J, 2011. HIgh Line, The inside Story of New York City’s Park in the Sky. 1st ed. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux . 10. Philips LED light bulbs, Lighting. 2013. Philips LED light bulbs, Lighting. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.usa.philips.com/c/led-light-bulbs/30033/cat/en/. [Accessed 26 May 2013]. Hiss, Tony. 2013. "DEEP TRAVEL ON THE HIGH LINE." Publishers Weekly 257, no. 17: 29-31. Business Source Complete. [ 2 ]. Richie, A, 2009. Sustainable Urban Design. 2nd ed. USA: Taylor & Francis. [ 5 ]. Sustainability | Friends of the High Line. 2013. Sustainability | Friends of the High Line. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.thehighline.org/sustainability. [Accessed 26 May 2013]. [ 6 ]. High Line Blog | Friends of the High Line. 2013. High Line Blog | Friends of the High Line. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.thehighline.org/blog. [Accessed 26 May 2013]. [ 7 ]. David, J, 2011. HIgh Line, The inside Story of New York City’s Park in the Sky. 1st ed. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux . [ 11 ]. Sustainability | Friends of the High Line. 2013. Sustainability | Friends of the High Line. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.thehighline.org/sustainability. [Accessed 26 May 2013]. [ 12 ]. Philips LED light bulbs, Lighting. 2013. Philips LED light bulbs, Lighting. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.usa.philips.com/c/led-light-bulbs/30033/cat/en/. [Accessed 26 May 2013]. [ 13 ]. David, J, 2011. HIgh Line, The inside Story of New York City’s Park in the Sky. 1st ed. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux . [ 14 ]. West Chelsea - New York City Department of City Planning. 2013. West Chelsea - New York City Department of City Planning. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/westchelsea/westchelsea1.shtml. [Accessed 26 May 2013]. Hiss, Tony. 2013. "DEEP TRAVEL ON THE HIGH LINE." Publishers Weekly 257, no. 17: 29-31. Business Source Complete.