WHAT DOES SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPE MEAN TO YOU?
The word 'sustainable' has been overused to the point that it is in danger of losing its meaning. After all, if everything is sustainable (and all manner of wrongs righted by adding solar panels), then nothing is.
When it comes to landscaping, especially, many projects gain valuable green building certification for doing nothing more than using drought resistant plants and drip irrigation.
As an Indian Green Building Council registered professional, I can tell you that it is possible to:
a. Decimate the existing biodiversity and ecology of a 100 acre+ site,
b. Cover up all the natural water features
c. Regrade the entire site topography,
and still get the project certified as a basic green building (let's call this Project 1), by planting new, drought resistant trees and shrubs, putting in a mechanical water recycling plant, and adding in drip irrigation. And yes, you can call this sustainable architecture and landscaping.
Meanwhile, a project (let's call it Project 2) that starts with the premise of "do no harm", by not disturbing existing trees and building around it, working with the existing topography, rehabilitating degraded soil rather than bringing in topsoil from elsewhere, and utilising techniques rooted in permaculture such as biomimicry of natural drainage, putting in plants that perform real functions such as pest control, air purification, providing food, etc., may or may not get a higher green certification than Project 1. This is not to point fingers at green building certifications. Unfortunately, green building certifications often have to start with building up awareness about green building in contexts where there is little to no awareness. It is important to ensure that "easy fix" short term good practices are rewarded as a starting point towards generating awareness. A standardised checklist for "green certification" will inevitably allow the more qualitative projects (those conceptualised on the "do no harm" or permaculture principles), or those less amenable to measurement and numbers to fall through the cracks. All certification programmes, of course, have a special review process for "out of the box" solutions, but often there is a bias towards technological solutions rather than analogue ones such as "not cutting trees," "retaining site drainage," or "using plants with a local cultural value".
So, what does sustainable mean to you when it comes to landscape architecture?
Here's our sustainable landscaping manifesto at SKDO (and we hope to add to it in time):
1. Use native or naturalised plants. For a start, don't use invasive species (i.e. don't actively do harm), and try and actively do good by using plants that have a local social and cultural value, that are beneficial to the local ecosystem, and that additionally perform a valuable function such as nutrient fixing or providing food for local biodiversity.
2. Don't bury your soil, rehabilitate it. Don't actively deplete fertile topsoil in other places by bringing in "good" soil from far away and burying your existing urban soil. Again, do no harm to other places. And actively do good by rehabilitating your soil by using plants and organic nutrients in a phased manner. Compacted soil with a lot of building debris? Change the pH balance using organic fertilizer, and buy some earthworms to aerate the soil. Your garden won't grow as quickly, but it'll certainly look as beautiful in a few years. We see so many landscaping companies bringing in soil from rural areas, and nobody seems to ask where it comes from and what the long-term consequences are of such a practice being widespread. Are we losing valuable rural fertile agricultural topsoil in order to fulfill the aesthetic whims of city dwellers in their ornamental gardens?
3. Let nature do the work you need done.You want to reduce mosquitos, purify water, and and filter the air? You can do all of that just with your planting and soil grading (this does tend to depend on the scale of your plot however). You don't need pesticides, a water treatment plant, and an air purifier if you have an acre of land. Again, this might take time, but you'll be paying a lot less in electricity bills, and you'll have a working landscape to boot. Beauty and substance.
4. Recycle all water - grey, black and rain. and no, you don't need a state of the art water treatment plant, all you need is some reeds and pebbles, and a large landscaping space. And if you don't have a natural slope, maybe one pump.
5. Work with the natural topography. Bioswales, rain gardens, percolation pits, minimal regrading. It's really that easy. I see so many large developments treating topography as irrelevant except for costing purposes. Or using constructed topography as a design element: a recent visit to a hotel in Delhi got us to enter on the fifth floor and then go down three floors to our room, and we still aren't sure why except for the novelty value. Topography can be your friend, not an unnecessary nuisance or a huge costing headache.
6. There is no such thing as a weed, only invasive or non-invasive species. Broaden your mind, look for beauty in unexpected places: the sides of highways, medians, on abandoned buildings.
7. Plants have always held meaning, unpack those layers.While some clients and designers view landscape as an aesthetic element, and a designed landscape with exotic plants, especially, as an essential element of an aspirational "five-star" experience, landscape (through choice of plant, texture, smell, colour, taste) can also engage all the senses, and jog cultural memory, induce nostalgia and reflection on the same level as artwork. Landscape can be absurd, surreal, comforting, playful and all of the above. And beautiful, too.
