Terms and Design Flashcards
Pre-Design phase
Components:
- Client interview
- Detailed work scope
- Work plan
- Site base plan
- Soils and geotechnical (survey and analysis)
- Site investigation (site survey)
- User interviews (stakeholders)
- Code review
- Preliminary program
- Construction budget - preliminary
Concept Design phase
Components:
- Site analysis and evaluation
- Preliminary project program
- Design intent
- Performance metrics
- Design framework
- Probable costs
- Preliminary phasing plan
Schematic design phase (establishing content)
Components:
- Contextual framework
- Site assessment
- Performance metrics
- Illustrative elevations
- Composite sections and 3D drawings
Design development phase
Components:
- Site reference plan
- General information sheet
- Erosion and sediment control plan
- Plant protection and removal plan
- Site demolition plan
- Site materials plan
- Site grading and drainage plan
- Site lighting plan
- Site details
- Planting plan
- Irrigation plan
- Site furnishings plan
Vision plan
A targeted long-term plan that sets the direction for a community while considering all aspects of community life. All of the city’s other plans should be aligned with the vision plan. Community engagement is an essential and relevant aspect of the vision plan process, and the final plan will be a product around which the community can identify and unify.
Key components:
- Longer-term (30+ years)
- Sets direction and aspirations
- Focuses more broadly on the future of the city and all aspects of community life
- Shared responsibility (City, Chamber of Commerce, Visit OP, other organizations)
Comprehensive Plan
A specific plan associated with a large jurisdiction (city, village, etc.) Developed through a public process and includes standard elements set by the state or province.
A long-term policy guide focused on physical aspects of the city/municipality, including land use, growth patterns, transportation, environment, and infrastructure. A comprehensive plan may exist for many years, with regular reviews and updates. It serves as the foundation of the city’s zoning code, annexation policy capital improvements plan, and many other specific plans and policies.
Components:
- Long-term (usually 10-20 year horizon)
- Sets guidelines for policy
- Focuses on physical aspects of the city (land use, growth patterns, transportation, environment, and infrastructure)
- Responsibility of the city
Framework plan
Report for private sector/institutional land use plans that guide phased development. A type of long-range development plan that provides for flexible future decision making based on a documented set of facts and analysis. Used for campus development where future needs may be unpredictable but some long-term strategic thinking and policy is necessary. Includes analysis/discovery, general planning principles adopted by the institution that are clearly articulated for future use, and a capital planning tool that guides funding sources that are partly known and partly unpredictable.
Strategic implementation
Strategic urban planning focuses on setting high-level goals and determining desired areas of growth for a city or metropolitan area. The result of the planning process is a strategic plan—also called the development plan, core strategy, or comprehensive plan. The strategic plan’s goals may include easing transportation throughout the city, creating more community spaces, improving citizens’ quality of life, or encouraging people to visit or move to the city.
Feasibility studies
An exploratory study during which stakeholders assesses the viability of a project and may or may not lead to a built project. Included in this phase is a feasibility study, a formal analysis that examines whether a program is suitable for a specific parcel or area in a specific community and at a specific time.
Technical and legal feasibility, projected schedule, financial analysis (pro forma), market analysis planning/zoning/building code analysis, all aimed at establishing whether a project is buildable and can be expected to be profitable
Urban design plans
Urban design focuses on relationships between buildings and on the spaces they create in between each other, often called the “public realm.”
Urban design typically entails spatial relations whereas planning has become the regulatory framework that controls uses, circulation, open space and generally speaking, two dimensional relations between public and private space.
Land-use plans
Land use plans are essentially zoning plans which outline the future location and type (residential, office, retail, industry) of development activity that is to be permitted and not permitted (i.e. green space, parks, etc.) within urban and regional areas over a set horizon period (normally 5–15 years).
Land-use planning largely concerns legislation and policy, adopting planning instruments like governmental statutes, regulations, rules, codes, and policies to influence land use. They also serve to zone or reserve land for certain purposes such as:
- Residential, for buildings like apartment homes, single-family residences, and condominiums
- Commercial, for buildings like retail shops and office buildings
- Industrial, for structures like manufacturing plants and warehouses
- Municipal, for structures like police stations and courthouses
Master plans
Master planning is typically used for greenfield development projects, or building on undeveloped land—instead of modifying pre-existing structures or spaces, you’re starting from scratch.
A design and planning study for phased development of a campus or area. Program and preliminary layout of elements for a site, especially one that is large or will be developed in phases. Campuses, commercial complexes, multifamily housing developments all commonly start with a master plan, and might be broken up into several different PS&E projects.
Infrastructure planning
Infrastructure planning deals with the fundamental facilities and systems that serve a city and its people, and how those facilities can support goals laid out in the strategic plan. This type of urban planning covers:
- Public works infrastructure such as water supply, sewage, electricity, and telecommunications
- Community infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, and parks
- Safety and transportation such as roads, police, and fire facilities
Environmental planning
Environmental planning is a type of strategic development that emphasizes sustainability. Considerations for this type of urban planning include air pollution, noise pollution, wetlands, habitats of endangered species, flood zone susceptibility, and coastal zone erosion, along with a host of other environmental factors dealing with the relationship between natural and human systems.
Environmental plans need to be filed alongside master, revitalization, and infrastructure plans. If it seems like there are a lot of steps and a lot of requirements, don’t get discouraged. While it seems complicated, it will be best in the long run if your plans all interact well.
Concept narrative
- Narrative that highlights the various assumptions and outside parameters made by or given to the landscape architect at the outset of the design
- The purpose of the narrative is to document the reasoning and decisions made during the design phase of a project.
- It presents the basic rationale and assumptions, criteria, logic, and considerations developed in evaluation the design
- The narrative is created during the schematic design phase and is continually updated during the design development through the construction document
phase. - It describes the landscape architect’s approach for a general audience, including the pros and cons of various options
- It evolves into a more technically detailed document that can be used by facilities maintenance technicians
Smart Growth
Smart growth looks different from place to place—it’s an overall approach to development that encourages a mix of building types and uses, diverse housing and transportation options, development within existing neighborhoods, and robust community engagement. The 10 principles below are considered the foundation of a smart growth approach
- Mix land uses
- Take advantage of compact design
- Create a range of housing opportunities and choices
- Create walkable neighborhoods
- Foster distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place
- Preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty, and critical environmental areas
- Direct development towards existing communities
- Provide a variety of transportation choices
- Make development decisions predictable, fair, and cost effective
- Encourage community and stakeholder collaboration in development decisions
Low-Impact Development strategies
The Low Impact Development (LID) approach to site development and stormwater management is rapidly becoming the required design approach in many areas of the United States.
The basic principle is to use nature as a model and manage rainfall at the source. This is accomplished through sequenced implementation of runoff prevention strategies, runoff mitigation strategies, and finally, treatment controls to remove pollutants.
There are 5 core requirements when it comes to designing for LID.
- Conserve natural areas wherever possible (don’t pave over the whole site if you don’t need to).
- Minimize the development impact on hydrology.
- Maintain runoff rate and duration from the site (don’t let the water leave the site).
- Scatter integrated management practices (IMPs) throughout your site – IMPs are decentralized, microscale controls that infiltrate, store, evaporate, and/or detain runoff close to the source.
- Implement pollution prevention, proper maintenance and public education programs.
Common site practices include:
- Preservation
- Soil amendment
- Pervious paving
- Rain gardens
- Rooftop rainwater catchment system
- Vegetated (green) roofs
Transit-Oriented Developments (TOD)
A type of community development that
includes a mixture of housing, office, retail and/or other amenities integrated into a walkable neighborhood and located within a half-mile of quality public transportation
