Measuring Landscape Performance: Case Study Investigation

Authors

Hannah Michelle LoPresto, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Brandon Zambrano, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Catherine De Almeida, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

Summer 8-6-2018

Document Type

Poster

Citation

LoPresto, H., Zambrano, B., & De Almeida, C., "Measuring Landscape Performance: Case Study Investigation", 2018.

Abstract

Participating in the Landscape Architecture Foundation’s 2018 Case Study Investigation has been an incredibly informative experience for our research team at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. We are eager to shine a spotlight on the landscape performance of two Great Plains projects: P Street Corridor, a revitalized downtown streetscape in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Tom Hanafan River’s Edge Park, a waterfront redevelopment in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Working on the post-occupancy study of both projects has been extremely beneficial in understanding how reclaiming underutilized sites can create high-performing landscapes. Both are public projects in urban settings with primary goals of transforming formerly unpleasant, underused spaces to highly accessible public spaces that implement stormwater management strategies. P Street focuses on runoff capture while Tom Hanafan focuses on opportunities to preserve and restore riparian forest in a floodplain to withstand a 500-year storm event.

This project presents the methods and results from our landscape performance evaluation of these two projects, highlighting their environmental, social, and economic benefits. Learning from various data collection techniques, communicating with our firm partners and municipal clients, and synthesizing our research in documents for peer review has given us an incredible opportunity to grow as landscape architecture students and experience the growing necessity of using landscape performance to quantify the sustainable benefits of landscape architecture.