Land and Natural Development (LAND) Code offers a pioneering method to develop sites in harmony with natural processes. While the LAND Code can be readily used in conjunction with LEED, EPA, and other guidelines, it features several unique characteristics, including recommendations based on peer-reviewed scientific research, a system that is accessible to non-experts, and extensive use of photographs and diagrams to illustrate practices and procedures.

Foreword. Nature and scope. Overview of the planning process. Steps in land-use planning. Methods and sources.

This new and expanded edition builds upon the first edition’s accessible and comprehensive overview of the interdisciplinary field of sustainability. The focus is on furnishing solutions and equipping the student with both conceptual understanding and technical skills for the workplace. Each chapter explores one aspect of the field, first introducing concepts and presenting issues, then supplying tools for working toward solutions. Techniques for management and measurement as well as case studies from around the world are provided. The second edition includes a complete update of the text, with increased coverage of major topics including the Anthropocene; complexity; resilience; environmental ethics; governance; the IPCC’s latest findings on climate change; Sustainable Development Goals; and new thinking on native species and novel ecosystems. Chapters include further reading and discussion questions. The book is supported by a companion website with links, detailed reading lists, glossary, and additional case studies, together with projects, research problems, and group activities, all of which focus on real-world problem solving of sustainability issues. The textbook is designed to be used by undergraduate college and university students in sustainability degree programs and other programs in which sustainability is taught.

The current environmental crisis calls for a unified practice of landscape and architecture that would allow buildings and landscapes to perform symbiotically to heal the environment. Over the past ten years, a diverse group of architects, landscape architects, and artists have undertaken groundbreaking projects that propose an integration of landscape and architecture, dissolving traditional distinctions between building and environment. Groundwork: Between Landscape and Architecture examines twenty-five projects, on an international scale, that consider landscape and architecture as true reciprocal entities. Groundwork divides the projects into three design directions: Topography, Ecology, and Biocomputation. Topographic designers create projects that manipulate the ground to merge building and landscape as in Cairo Expo City in Egypt (Zaha Hadid Architects), Island City Central Park Grin Grin in Fukuoka, Japan (Toyo Ito & Associates) and the City of Culture of Galicia in Santiago de Compostela, Spain (Eisenman Architects). Ecologic designers develop environments that address issues such as energy climate and remediation, such as I’m Lost In Paris in France (R&Sie(n)), Turistroute in Eggum, Norway (Snøhetta) and Parque Atlántico in Santander, Cantabria, Spain (Batlle i Roig Arquitectes). Biocomputation designers use digital technologies to align biology and design in projects such as the Grotto Concept (Aranda/Lasch), North Side Copse House in West Sussex, England (EcoLogicStudio) and Local Code: Real Estates (Nicolas de Monchaux.) What these projects all have in common is a desire to pay attention and homage to the liminal space where indoors and outdoors meet. The critical connection between natural and synthetic, exterior and interior space, paves the way toward a more inclusive—and indeed more alive—conceptualization of the physical world.

This report looks at both negative and positive drivers that affect forest change in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) in the last 25 years (1990-2015) in order to have a better understanding of their influence on forests in the region. It evaluates policies and measures in relation to drivers of forest change. Agricultural expansion, infrastructure development particularly hydropower dams and road construction, logging, mining operations and forest fires are the most dominant drivers of fores t loss in GMS. At a positive note, almost all countries in the region have adopted policies that support SFM and balance the social, economic and environmental aspects of forestry. Furthermore, there seems to be a movement towards sustainable policies which influence the shift towards SFM, forest conservation and afforestation and reforestation. Although it seems the policies addressing the drivers of deforestation exist at local, national and international level, their effectiveness has been mi xed. T his report presents forest changes in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) over a period of 25 years between 1990 and 2015. It describes key drivers that have affected these changes. Some drivers influenced forests negatively in that they resulted in deforestation and forest degradation. On the other hand, positive drivers promoted sustainable forest management (SFM), afforestation and reforestation and forest conservation.

"Professionals and government officials often encounter a variety of legal and public policy questions which have economic, sociological, political and spatial overtones and implications." "This volume brings together lawyers and social scientists to discuss pertinent issues from their relevant expertise, with the aim of providing new insights into the different training, skills and background of law and the social sciences, which would in turn contribute to a more symbiotic relationship between the two disciplines to help policy and decision-makers be fair and efficient in implementing or advising regulatory and developmental programmes." "This volume should be a useful reference to policy-makers, professionals advising the government, lawyers and researchers undertaking inter-disciplinary studies."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

In the world’s developing countries, foreign investment in natural resources brings into contact competing interests that are often characterised by unequal balances of negotiating power – from multinational corporations and host governments, through to the local people affected by the influx of foreign investment. The growing integration of the world economy has been accompanied by rapid and extensive developments in the national and international norms that regulate investment and its impact – including investment law, natural resource law and human rights law. These legal developments affect the ‘shadow’ that the law casts over the multiple negotiations that characterise international investment projects in the developing world. Drawing on international law, the national law of selected jurisdictions and the contracts concluded in a large investment project, Human Rights, Natural Resource and Investment Law in a Globalised World explores the ways in which the law protects the varied property rights that are at play in foreign investment projects in developing countries, with a focus on Africa. Through an integrated analysis of seemingly disparate fields of law, this book sheds new light on how the law mediates the competing interests that come into contact as a result of economic globalisation, whilst also providing new insights on the changing nature of state sovereignty and on the relationship between law and power in a globalised world. This book will be of interest to scholars, students and informed practitioners working in the fields of international investment and human rights law, comparative law, socio-legal studies, and development studies.

Architecture, Sustainable Design A comprehensive book on the sustainable design of research laboratories Today's research laboratories are complex and difficult building types to design, and making them sustainable adds more obstacles. Written by members of the well-known firm KlingStubbins, under the guidance of its Directors of Laboratory Planning, Engineering, and Sustainability, Sustainable Design of Research Laboratories represents a multidisciplinary approach to addressing these challenges. With the needs of architects, engineers, construction professionals, and facility owners in mind, this book provides a road map for sustainable planning, design, construction, and operations. The book is valuable both to experienced laboratory designers seeking guidance on sustainable strategies, as well as professionals versed in sustainable design who want insight into laboratory applications. With content rich in guidance on performance strategies, even the most technically oriented reader will find valuable lessons inside. This book: Focuses on the links between best sustainable practices and the specific needs of research laboratories Provides a number of case studies of the best contemporary sustainably designed labs, with a focus on architecture and engineering Explores the challenges in applying rating systems, including LEED, to laboratory buildings Examines unique considerations of sustainable approaches in leased and renovated laboratories Includes contributions by experts on approaches to integrated design, site design, programming, and commissioning This important book shows how theoretical ideas can be applied to real-life laboratory projects to create healthier and more efficient research environments.