The OakGreen Sustainable Communities Seminar Series continued on Tuesday, September 7, 2010, in Waterford, Michigan, with a topic centered on the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES).
SITES is an interdisciplinary effort by the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and the United States Botanic Garden to create voluntary national guidelines and performance benchmarks for sustainable land design, construction and maintenance practices.
David J. Yocca, the senior partner and principal landscape architect and planner with Conservation Design Forum, was present to share a plethora of information regarding SITES. Yocca is a LEED Accredited Professional who provides technical advisory for the initiative.
The subjects of his presentation included:
- Green building construction
- SITES background
- Sustainable development as socially equitable, economically feasible and environmentally sound
- Framework and guiding principles of the initiative
- Project applications, including parks, trails, campgrounds, industrial and office parks, government and medical complexes, conservation easements, botanical gardens, university campuses, residential sites, streetscapes and plazas
- Performance benchmarks and guidelines
- Site selection processes
- Real-life examples
Yocca also provides significant leadership on various sustainable planning and design efforts, including the design and development of land use master plans for parks, greenways, conservation villages and urban neighborhoods. He even provides planning and consulting services with a sustainable and restorative focus for municipal and public agencies.
The next OakGreen seminar will take place October 12, 2010, at 9:00 a.m., at the Oakland County Executive Building Conference Center in the East Oakland Room. The topic will be “Local Food Resources in Oakland County.”
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Source: GreeningDetroit.com
Author: Jennifer Griffin
