Tuesdays at APA — July 2008

Integrated Ecological Planning and Site Design

Approaching Green Practice

July 15, 2008

Water conservation has become one of the most critical issues relative to the landscape design and management industry today. The emerging trend towards green building, including the highly successful LEED programs promoted through the U.S. Green Building Council, has elevated the importance of sustainable landscape design and management.

David Yocca provided an overview of sustainable design based upon the doctrine of ecologically based landscape planning and integrated rainwater management. He described a range of strategies and techniques used in green community planning and site design, and how these strategies address water conservation while providing great beauty and value as landscapes. He explored the possibilities of sustainable landscape design for residential, commercial, and large-scale landscape development projects located throughout North America. Coffee Creek Center, a planned community in Chesterton, Indiana, was used as a case study to illustrate the practical application of these practices.

PDF of PowerPoint Presentation (pdf)

About the Speaker

David J. Yocca, AICP, is focused on the cultivation of healthy, sustainable places that inspire the people they serve. Since 1996, he has led the design disciplines at Conservation Design Forum (CDF) in Elmhurst, Illinois, and has served a leadership role in a wide array of planning and design efforts. Yocca has developed land use master plans for conservation villages and urban neighborhoods, and participated in the visioning, design, entitlement, and implementation process for numerous ecologically based sites, neighborhoods, and communities throughout the country.

He is the principal landscape architect for many of CDF's pioneering, high profile green projects, including the celebrated Chicago City Hall Demonstration Green Roof. He is fluent in a wide range of green strategies, and collaborates regularly with similarly aligned colleagues and clients. Yocca routinely presents at workshops and conferences on sustainable topics.