Every landscape design project involves a site.

So, before a landscape architect can even begin conceptualizing a landscape design, one must familiarize one’s self with the lay of the land – done through a site inventory and analysis.

“SIA” for short.

If you’re a landscape architect (or an allied professional), chances are you’re familiar with what an SIA is.

For those who don’t know, an SIA is usually the first step of the landscape design process. From my experience a good landscape design is possible only when the landscape architect immerses one’s self in the site.

This is because all landscape design is site-specific.

Think about it: every site has something that makes it unique. No two sites are ever 100% alike – not even adjacent lots!

No landscape architect can get away with cookie-cutter designs. In fact, no good landscape architect will want to. It’s an insult to one’s ego.

More importantly, one risks implementing design interventions that are inefficient, ineffective, even counterproductive, without getting to know the lay of the land.

Every site presents a unique set of issues that the landscape architect must address through design.

At the same time the landscape architect should fulfill the client’s vision for the site, to the best of one’s abilities.

A good landscape architect must know how to negotiate what works in the site with what the proponent wants to implement.

Conducting an SIA helps the landscape architect determine how synergistic a site may be with the proposed project.

An SIA involves the analysis and synthesis of secondary data like maps and site images.

However, some information about the site is difficult, erroneous, or impossible to know from just maps or pictures.

Locations of existing trees and structures on a site might be drastically different from a map – especially if said map is decades old. Or maybe the map is accurate: correct locations, correct labels, certainly updated.

Yet some site qualities such as its cultural characteristics and the genius loci are impossible to appreciate from a mere two-dimensional drawing.

Hence a site ocular can grant the landscape architect greater insights on the cultural, ecological, and structural qualities of a site.

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Inventory vs. Analysis

There are two parts to an SIA. They are – you guessed it – inventory and analysis.

“Inventory” involves the landscape architect jotting down all information related to the site. Some examples of what to include in the inventory are:

• Sun and wind paths
• Existing flora, fauna, and biota (their species, forms, locations, etc.)
• Location and size of existing infrastructure (roads, buildings, utilities, structures, etc.)
• Circulation (entrances, exits, and inner pathways)
• Modes of access (walking, bicycle, private car, public transport, special vehicles)
• Site topography (elevation, slope, site drainage path, aspect or orientation, highest and lowest points, etc.)
• Environmental factors (sun path, prevailing wind direction, rainfall parameters, temperature range, etc.)
• Natural hazard (instances and frequency of earthquakes, flooding, volcanic eruptions, etc.)
• User demographics (age, sex, occupation, and race of people involved with the project and the site)
• Visual Resources (good and bad views and vantage points)

A grave mistake in conducting SIAs is to adopt a limited perspective, where one looks at a site as merely a collection of elements.

Say you’ve listed down every single taxon of plant present in the site.

So what? Did you understand how these plants interact with one another? How they interact with the other components of the site?

An SIA doesn’t stop with the inventory. An SIA also involves “analysis”, where the landscape architect and his or her team understand the inner workings of the site by processing the information they’ve gathered.

Some examples of what can be revealed through site analysis are:

• Ecological dynamics (how the different ecosystems in the site work)
• Quality of wildlife habitat (type of habitats, their uniqueness, and how sensitive they may be to human disturbance)
• Choke points in circulation (where in the site are there conflicts in pedestrian, vehicular, and wildlife movement)
• Susceptibility to hazards (which parts of the site are susceptible to hazards such as earthquakes, landslides, floods, and crime)
• Evacuation points (where people may pass through or find safety during events like floods or outbreaks)
• Power dynamics (who answers to whom, and who is in charge of what)

Yet, you can’t find something if you don’t know what you’re looking for in the first place.

Thus, I think landscape architects should familiarize themselves with environmental science concepts that can grant you and me a different way of seeing the world, of looking at a site.

Notice I used “environmental science”. Not just ecology. Not just natural sciences. Not just the social sciences. Environmental.

This implies the interaction between society and nature. Socio-ecological.

Because essentially, a site is a socio-ecological system.

I believe landscape architects should conduct their SIAs with the mindset that their site is part of both the human and the natural realms.

I can think of a few concepts that I believe can help open a landscape architect’s mind, to help one see and appreciate the inner complexities of each site one handles.

So, here are 4 environmental science concepts that I believe is worth knowing and can improve the way landscape architects conduct their SIAs.

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1. System Boundaries

Quick: what are the boundaries of the project site?

The property line, you say? Let me rephrase: what are the system boundaries of the project site?

I tell you that a landscape system is more than just what’s within the property line.

A site will always be an open system. That is, it’ll always affect and be affected by forces beyond the property line.

Remember: nature doesn’t give a damn about human-made boundaries. Often, natural boundaries do not jive with those set by people.

You wouldn’t address a stormwater management problem without consulting a map of the region’s watershed system.

Weeds and pests may be entering your site via inputs such as replacement plants from nurseries.

A forest stand several kilometers up the slope might be the reason the deep well in your site at the base of a mountain provides a pristine water supply.

Putting up a structure in your site might inconvenience the adjacent lot with problems like floods and unstable soils.

Incorporating retail outlets could provide financial opportunities for nearby communities. Or the project could put nearby small-scale shops out of business.

Your project could provide badly needed open green space for the locale and improve landscape connectivity. It might also be a source of pollutants like cadmium leaching into the groundwater.

Positive or negative, one should always consider how a project site influences and is influences by forces outside the property line. Then, design accordingly.

Landscape design projects may be physically constrained by the property line, but that doesn’t mean it has to be constrained functionally, too.

Don’t just look at what’s within the boundary line; look at the stuff beyond!

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2. Landscape Scale

Every system is part of and is comprised of other systems. This is called hierarchy theory, or holism.

To wrap our minds around the concept, think of Matryoshka dolls – those sets of dolls from Russia that contain smaller and smaller dolls within each one.

Systems – and project sites – are like Matryoshka dolls. Like how one doll is a doll, contains a smaller doll, and is inside a larger doll, a project site is a system that is composed of subsystems and is a part of one larger system.

This brings us to the second concept: landscape scales.

Landscape architects deal with projects as small as backyard residential gardens to those as expansive as region-scale urban planning.

No matter the scale, we should look at a site with a holistic lens.

A rule of thumb is to analyze the landscape at three levels of landscape scale (Turner, 2015):

• One scale down (subsystems);
• The current scale (project site itself); and
• One scale up (region where site is located).

So if you’re conducting an SIA for a golf course, you’d analyze it at three scales:

• Various subsystems of the project site, like existing landscape utilities, existing flora and fauna, and site circulation.
• The project site as a whole, wherein we see how each of the subsystems interact with one another.
• Project site with respect to the ecological region it is in, like a watershed, biome, or ecoregion.

This works for spatial scales as much as it does for temporal scales.

It’d be good to assess how landscape changes in a project site might impact the environment in the short term (5 years or less), medium-term (around 10 years), and long-term (100 years or more).

Also consider landscape legacy, where previous uses of a landscape impact how a landscape can be used in the future.

You’ll be hard-pressed to build a subdivision on a site with a history of periodic flooding. Well, you can, but ideally you shouldn’t, even with sophisticated engineering interventions.

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3. Ecosystem Services

Ecosystem services are the tangible and intangible benefits that humans derive from a functional ecosystem.

The “ecosystem services” concept arose from the need to make people understand and appreciate the value beyond the market price of the products an ecosystem might supply.

Sure, a hundred board feet of hardwood may be worth so-and-so in the lumber industry. Does that mean a forest’s worth is purely based on the price of hardwood in the market?

Of course not. A forest is more valuable than that.

Just think of other benefits a forest grants to humans, besides lumber: purified water supply, fresh air, temperature regulation, slope stabilization.

Farmlands can benefit from being near forests because of the free pest and disease control, pollination service, windbreak, and climate regulation.

Not all of these fetch a price on the market, but we know they’re all valuable.

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) lists 4 general categories of ecosystem services, and examples of each one:

• Provisioning services (ex. food, fresh water, fuel, biochemicals, genetic resources)
• Regulating services (ex. climate regulation, disease regulation, water regulation, water purification, pollination)
• Cultural services (ex. spiritual and religious, recreation and tourism, aesthetic, inspirational, educational, sense of place, cultural heritage)
• Supporting services (ex. soil formation, nutrient cycling, primary production)

For example, here are possible ecosystem services associated with a hypothetical site in the tropics, to be developed as a beach resort.

Say your client wants to build a beachside restaurant with a view of the sunset on the horizon at sea.

Problem is, a mangrove forest is in the way. Your client is adamant to take them out. Do you submit unconditionally to your client’s wishes?

As landscape architects – stewards of the land – you know better.

Armed with the knowledge of ecosystem services and a table like the above, you can explain to your client that removing the mangrove forest will do him or her more harm than good.

Tear down the forest for an unobstructed view? Sure. Later on that decision will bite ‘em back.

Unmitigated storm surges. Reduced water quality. Loss of marine biodiversity, hence possible loss of fish to serve in their darn restaurant.

Think of the repairs, the jacked-up market prices, the negative public feedback. All these would cost the client in the long run.

Eventually you persuade your client to relocate the restaurant to the second floor of a building further inland the site (because of its higher elevation).

They get the view, and the benefits of having an intact mangrove forest, too.

You can even apply ecosystem valuation methods to show them the value of the mangrove forest in monetary units. Speak their language!

By identifying the services provided by all ecosystems related to the project site, you become aware of the strengths of your site, and what is at stake when the project is implemented.

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4. Material and Energy Flow

We can also look at the site as a system of stocks and flows of stuff. Stuff that come in, stuff that come out, and stuff that stay in the site for a while.

What stuff? Energy and materials.

Energy, like sunlight, heat, and sound.

Materials, like nutrients, water, pollutants, plants, animals, and people.

What are these stocks and flows?

Think of a series of bowls at different elevations, and each one has one or more spouts that pour its contents into another bowl.

For example, an existing tropical hardwood forest stand is a major stock of carbon.

Carbon comes in via photosynthesis and plant growth. Carbon goes out through the rotting of fallen leaves and of trees that die. The carbon is now in the soil, ready to be accumulated by other organisms. Or the soil carbon would leave as dissolved organic carbon (DOC).

Also identify factors that may affect how stuff flow in and out of stocks and of the system.

In the same example, temperature, humidity, and rainfall all affect how much carbon comes in and out of the forest stands.

It’s important to be aware of what and how material and energy flow through the site because many ecosystem services found in the site are a function of stock and flow dynamics.

Consider a beach resort project where your clients for a beachside township project are concerned that their shoreline is disappearing too quickly due to erosion from wave action. So, they’re hoping to build a seawall.

Seems sensible at first glance.

But then you remember to look at material flow dynamics. Material in question here is sand.

You do your research and learn that beach sand is replenished through upwelling, wherein ocean currents bring sand from the deep ocean into the coast.

Then comes the realization that putting up a seawall would disrupt this dynamic and do the reverse: speed up coastal erosion!

You immediately tell your clients your findings.

Initially they’re bummed. Still, you both sort out the problem and arrive at the decision to implement a managed retreat scheme, wherein the relocation of structures further inland is planned beforehand.

If feasible, you might even think of implementing a mangrove reforestation project to slow down coastal erosion in the site. Socially responsible. Also, extra PR points for the client.

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Conclusion

The concepts we’ve just covered are those that I believe could help us landscape architects see a site from a better perspective. In summary, these concepts are to:

• Look at the system boundaries, not just the property line;
• Analyze the site at different landscape scales;
• Identify the ecosystem services that your site provides; and
• Understand what types of energy and material flow into, within, and out of the site.

I hope you’ve picked up a thing or two from this.

I hope this has inspired you to go the extra mile when you conduct your site inventory and analysis – beyond what you usually do until now.

There are many more concepts besides those mentioned. Can you think of other concepts that might improve the way we do an SIA?

Perhaps you might want to add to some of the stuff I wrote above. Or maybe even beg to differ? Feel free to comment down below.

Thanks for your time, fabled readers!