Studio 4/02

High Speed Rail Corridor as Green Infrastructure

Christopher Newman

Studio Theme

The City of Greater Geelong, Surf Coast Shire and Borough of Queenscliff are within one of the fastest growth areas in Australia, with population growth and economic activity being two of the main drivers shaping this region. The changes currently in play, place ecological and infrastructure systems under extreme pressure leaving existing ecology, and infrastructure fragmented and dysfunctional. Landscape planning can help!

The HSR corridor as green infrastructure can mitigate issues with population burden, water protection, and management of natural resources, carefully and within a context of ecological balance. With further understanding of the balance of these complexities and the systems we build upon at varied scales, the more we can harness natural energies, flows and materials. The HSR as green infrastructure will come with new opportunities too, enabling development to extend to neighbouring cities, while rewarding human settlements with equilibrium in nature. Green infrastructure planning is positioned to provide solutions to industrial age problems.

This studio engages with large scale landscapes, exploring green infrastructure topics across multiple scales within the region of the Greater City of Geelong, Surf Coast Shire and Borough of Queenscliff .

Our premise, population growth and economic activity is out of control, placing pressure on existing ecology. A myopic view within current planning practice is heavily weighted to economics at significant cost to the environment. New developments planned at site level have become inadequate to achieve a holistic solution for protection of the environment and the health of the people that live there.
Our aim, to mitigate the effects of myopic planning and anthropogenic climate change with a unified system of ecosystem services. The proposed HSR corridor as green infrastructure is an opportunity to carefully apply landscape planning theory and strategies as a planned network of natural and semi-natural areas which will contribute to establishing equilibrium between nature and human settlements, while still accounting for a major piece of transport infrastructure with high cultural desire.

As a landscape architect, each of us inherits a legacy and responsibility – we are charged with managing environmental changes so that ecology, economy and culture are sustained and advanced. No other profession is better positioned than landscape architecture to provide solutions to alleviate the pressures of development, with the creation of green infrastructure. As timely antidote, and from a landscape planning perspective each of you should think of yourself as a doctor, trained in landuse, geomorphology, hydrology, ecology, energy etc... Thinking in layers is one of the key distinguishing factors when thinking like a landscape planner. Open data will be utilised as part of this course as spatial information to adequately locate green infrastructure in the landscape, as an evidence-based solution for the cities of tomorrow.

Each student will select a focused Green infrastructure topic from a list. With knowledge and information gained from your selected landscape topic, students will gain an understanding of current practice establishing green infrastructure solutions. A comprehensive design process will be applied to each project, for three phases.

In (Phase 1) Region; (The Greater City of Geelong, Surf Coast Shire and Borough of Queenscliff); within the context of broader landscape issues. Students will use GIS in this phase and complete a Weighted Overlay spatial analysis, as well as a literature study of Green Infrastructure through the lens of Landscape planning.
(Phase 2) Part 1 Region & Part 2 Suburb.

Part 1 use ArcGIS desktop to complete a Cost Path Analysis and determine a sensitive route for the HSR across the region. A sensitive corridor spanning the region will be determined and informed by a selected strategy and planning goals.

Part 2 select a suburb which crosses through this sensitive route generated from your analysis which comes in close proximity with your weighted overlay previously completed in Phase 1. Students will perform design testing with the Cost tools in ArcGIS to provide further ecological information with application of a ranking overlay in respect to their selected suburb.

This Phase will provide you with enough information to select a site and create a conceptual plan indicating the potential sites which are suitable for Phase 3 and consolidate GIS tools useful for this subject.

In (Phase 3), each student will select a Site from your conceptual suburb plan to produce a comprehensive design at differing scales. At local scale you will select a site within your suburb to develop your master plan. Each of your individual master planned projects are to utilise green infrastructure, utilising metrics and constraints to provide credibility to claims.

Special focus: the application of GIS spatial analyses to facilitate evidence-based design across scales.

Design outcome: Development of a sustainable and liveable community within complex conditions of infrastructure, ecologies, and demographics.

Site

Our site includes the Geelong LGA, Surf Coast Shire and Borough of Queenscliff. A region which is located within the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) sub-regions of the South East Coastal Plain, The Victorian Volcanic Plain, the Otway Plain and the Central Victorian Uplands. The region also has three significant water courses forming the basin catchments of the Barwon River, and the Moorabool River. This landscape region is and sensitive and misunderstood, it contains some of Victoria’s most endangered ecosystems of grasslands and endangered animals but also the gateway to Victorias most important tourism assets and beautiful coastlines.

Studio Leader

Christopher Newman, is a Landscape Architect with 11 years professional experience. He holds a Masters in Landscape Architecture, a Bachelor of Horticulture from Melbourne University as well as practical experience in Landscape Construction and Horticulture. Chris has been active as a tutor and subject coordinator at Melbourne University since 2009, with continued involvement in Landscape planning working alongside Dr Siqing Chen teaching GIS for Planning and Design and Studio 4 – Strategies.

Readings & References

(1998) Eco-Revelatory Design: Nature Constructed/Nature Revealed. Landscape Journal, 17(2), x.
Arendt, Randall. 2004. Linked Landscapes: Creating Greenway Corridors through Conservation Subdivision Design Strategies in the Northeastern and Central United States, Landscape and Urban Planning 68 (2–3): 241–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-2046(03)00157-9.
Austin, G. (2014) Green infrastructure for landscape planning : integrating human and natural systems. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Bélanger, P. (2009) Landscape As Infrastructure. Landscape Journal, 28(1), 79-95.
Benedict, M. A. & McMahon, E. (2006) Green infrastructure : linking landscapes and communities. Washington, DC: Island Press.
Brown, R. D. & Corry, R. C. (2011) Evidence-based landscape architecture: The maturing of a profession. Landscape & Urban Planning, 100(4), 327-329.
Carson, R. (1994) Silent spring. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Cosgrove, Christine. (2010). “Tracking High-Speed Rail’s Energy Use and Emissions A New Life-Cyle Assessment Makes It Easier to Compare and Contrast the Different Transport Modes with High-Speed Rail,” June. http://its.berkeley.edu/btl/2010/spring/HRS-life-cycle.
De Santo, R.S. & Smith, D.G. n.d. “An Introduction to Issues of Habitat Fragmentation Relative to Transportation Corridors with Special Reference to High-Speed Rail (HSR).” Environmental Management, Springer-Verlag Print 17: 111. Accessed August 9, 2019. DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02393799.
Dramstad, W. E., R. T. T. Forman, and J. D. Olson. (c1996). Landscape Ecology Principles in Landscape Architecture and Land-Use Planning. Cambridge? Mass. : Harvard University Graduate School of Design: Washington, DC : Island Press : American Society of Landscape Architects.
Firehock, K., Walker, R. A. & SpringerLink Strategic green infrastructure planning : a multi-scale approach.
Forman, R. T. T. (2008) Urban regions : ecology and planning beyond the city. Cambridge, UK ; New York: Cambridge University Press.
Forman, R. T. T. & Wu, J. (2016) Where to put the next billion people. Nature(7622).
Guthrie, C. (2016) Levelling on the Landscape Value of Rail Corridors. Landscape Architecture Australia(150), 18-20.
Hilty, J. A., Lidicker, W. Z. & Merenlender, A. M. (2006) Corridor ecology : the science and practice of linking landscapes for biodiversity conservation. Washington, DC: Island Press.
Kangas, P. C. (2004) Ecological engineering : principles and practice. Boca Raton: Lewis Publishers.
Murphy, M. D. (2016) Landscape architecture theory : an ecological approachWashington, DC : Island Press, [2016].
Odum, H. T. (1994) Ecological and general systems : an introduction to systems ecology.
Odum, H. T. & Odum, E. C. (1981) Energy basis for man and nature, 2d ed. edition. McGraw-Hill.
Reed, C. & Lister, N.-M. “Ecology and Design: Parallel Genealogies,”. Places Journal, April 2014.
Rouse, D. C. (2013) Green Infrastructure : a landscape approach. Chicago, IL: American Planning Association.
Spirn, A. W. (1984) The granite garden : urban nature and human designBasic Books.
Steiner, F. R. (2008) The living landscape : an ecological approach to landscape planning, 2nd edition. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.
Steinitz, C. (2012) A framework for geodesign : changing geography by design, 1st edition. Redlands, Calf: esri.
Tomlin, C. D. & Tomlin, C. D. (2012) GIS and Cartographic Modeling. Redlands, UNITED STATES: Esri Press.
Turner, T. (1996) City as landscape : a post-postmodern view of design and planning, 1st edition. London: E & FN Spon.
Turner, T. (1998) Landscape Planning and Environmental Impact Design. London, UNITED KINGDOM: Routledge.

Schedule Lectures Thursdays 12:00-13:00; Tutorials Thursdays 13:00-19:15

Contact Handbook