Design Ordering Systems:
during the past twenty years of practice in urban
design, we have developed a detailed series of
methodologies whereby
the relative merit of our design and
planning ideas are evaluated according to five
different ordering systems that we have developed
and have come to trust over the years: function,
environment, economic, aesthetic and socio-cultural.
These ordering systems are a form of checklist
firmly embedded in our process, and we believe that
an idea's relevance and usefulness increases
according to the number of different systems that it
engages. For instance, an idea that concerns itself
with only aesthetic-born issues is not as useful as
an idea that fully engages not only image, but also
explores social, economic, and environmental issues
as well. A park with flowers is fine, but a park
with flowers that also promotes meaningful social
interaction, increases adjacent land values,
mitigates erosion and promotes urban water
harvesting as it winds its way through an urban
fabric is a richer, more layered and therefore more
useful concept.
We use these systems as a means of
authenticating the relevance of our ideas. Our
solutions must be comprehensive, multi-layered and
interconnected to effectively satisfy the complex
range of determinants of design that are inevitably
present in all urban environments.
I will now discuss how the landscape
architecture solutions can improve the urban fabric
within each of these management systems.
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