November 21, 2005

ASLA and Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Collaborate on Sustainability Rating
The SITESS program will index characteristics of sites developed with best practices, recognize high performance in sustainable site development through third-party certification, and encourage ongoing innovation in approach and technique.

What is the relationship between landscape architecture and sustainable land use? The answer for many ASLA members is “inseparable.” Landscape architecture, by definition, aligns patterns supporting a site’s desired use and the site’s function within larger natural systems.

But all finished works of landscape architecture are not equally sustainable. Divergent project goals can put nature and culture at odds. The desired site program may be scaled back to fit the site. Programmatic goals, or the client’s desires, may trump intentions for sustainable site use. Because of this, the design community should encourage and recognize those sites that we call “sustainable.” Furthermore, owners and designers of these sites should be recognized for their commitment, resourcefulness, creativity, and discipline. The question is, how?

ASLA and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (TWC) believe that the answer is SITESS: Systems Integration Tool for Environmentally Sustainable Sites, which is currently under development. The idea for the tool was hatched and nurtured by the officers of the Sustainable Design and Development (SDD) Professional Practice Network (PPN) and resoundingly supported by a multidisciplinary working group who gathered in Austin, Texas, this past September, as well as by audiences to which presentations were made during ASLA’s 2005 Annual Meeting in October and during the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC’s) Greenbuild conference in November.

No other tool currently exists to provide these three essential functions:

1. Indexing characteristics of sites developed with best practices
2. Recognizing high performance in sustainable site development through third-party certification
3. Encouraging ongoing innovation in approach and technique

USGBC’s LEED rating systems address some site issues when assessing the “greenness” of buildings, but the group agrees that LEED’s treatment of site issues can expand and is encouraging ASLA and TWC to compile the science to support enhanced site metrics. The first goal of the SITESS initiative is to support this expansion of LEED to cover more of the area in which landscape architects have expertise.

LEED, however, will likely continue to emphasize buildings. No comparable standard exists that emphasizes site issues and that could be applied to open spaces like parks, recreation centers, enhanced streetscapes, military bases, or utility corridors. The second goal of the SITESS initiative, therefore, is to create the means for evaluating and recognizing sustainable sites. Landscape architects are eager to use a site-rating tool and are surprised and disappointed to hear that it is not yet available.

The First Draft
The SITESS initiative is ambitious, and the effort has just begun. Work on the concept and the tool so far has relied primarily on the volunteer efforts of the officers of the SDD PPN, with limited ASLA and TWC staff providing support. A wider group of volunteers has shared expertise and contacts with the SDD officers. This advisory group will grow to include ecologists, civil engineers, hydrologists, construction and maintenance professionals, and the owners of sites eligible for recognition through the tool.

Even more volunteers have reviewed and commented on the first draft of the tool, which is posted online on the SDD website along with updates on the SITESS initiative. This “draft” is really a composite of initial research. ASLA and TWC are preparing for substantial further building of content over the coming year. Later, the tool’s content will be refined and its structure reconfigured. The last page of the online draft is a comment form, which you are encouraged to use to submit comments to guide the current round of research and revisions. Comments on this draft will be accepted until December 2, 2005. A revised draft will be posted on the same site for further comments in the spring of 2006. Please see the draft tool for instructions for submitting comments.

The draft tool contains information under seven headings: Regional Context, Site Ecology, Water Efficiency, User Health, Maintenance and Management, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, and Innovation and Design Process. The structure is similar to that of the LEED rating systems so that SITESS can begin as a supplement to LEED and be easily incorporated into the LEED rating systems.

While SITESS aims to identify individual materials, choices, and design features that support sustainable sites, it also looks to encourage the holistic thinking essential to achieving sustainability. For example, the vision for SITESS also includes requiring a thorough regional context analysis as a prerequisite to certification and tightening the connection between good sustainable design and successful sustainable maintenance and management strategies. Other complexities include accounting for regional variation and variation among site types, site attributes, and project goals.

What are the next steps for the SITESS initiative? Expanded partnerships and funding, streamlined leadership structure, increased staffing, elevated engagement of professional expertise and trafficking of information, and focused analysis and crafting of the tool. ASLA President, Dennis Carmichael, FASLA, closed the Austin summit with the following remark: “You came with a sense of importance. Please leave with a sense of urgency.” Expect results, and join the process.

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