What is the Sustainable Sites Initiative?

The Sustainable Sites Initiative is an interdisciplinary effort by the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and the United States Botanic Garden to create voluntary national guidelines and performance benchmarks for sustainable land design, construction, and maintenance practices.

The central message of the Sustainable Sites Initiative is that any landscape—whether the site of a large subdivision, a shopping mall, a park, an abandoned rail yard, or even one home—holds the potential both to improve and regenerate the natural benefits and services provided by ecosystems in their undeveloped state. While there are existing standards for sustainable structures, there are no comprehensive guidelines for those who want to create and measure sustainable landscapes. The Sustainable Sites Initiative Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks 2009 is intended to be a tool for those who design, construct, operate, and maintain landscapes, including but not limited to planners, landscape architects, engineers, developers, builders, facility managers, horticulturists, governments, land stewards, and organizations offering building standards.

Presentation:Tuesday, December 1
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Auditorium
11:30-1:00
4801 La Crosse Avenue, Austin, Texas

Steve Windhager, Ph.D.
Director of Landscape Restoration,
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

For more information, write to: info@sustainablesites.org.