Environmental impact design (EID) is the design of development projects so as to achieve positive environmental objectives that benefit the environment and raise the stock of
public goods
In economics, a public good (also referred to as a social good or collective good)Oakland, W. H. (1987). Theory of public goods. In Handbook of public economics (Vol. 2, pp. 485-535). Elsevier. is a good that is both non-excludable and non-riv ...
.
[EID Landscape architecture environmental impact analysis, landscape assessment and environmental impact design.” Gardenvisit.com - the Garden Landscape Guide](_blank)
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Examples
Examples of EID include:
* Habitat creation as a result of afforestation projects that can "expand forest resources and reduce the gap between timber production and consumption." An example is the China Afforestation Project.
* Coastal management
Coastal management is defence against flooding and erosion, and techniques that stop erosion to claim lands. Protection against rising sea levels in the 21st century is crucial, as sea level rise accelerates due to climate change. Changes in s ...
projects that strengthens biodiversity
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...
and promotes sustainable use of biological resources.
* Flood defense projects that improve livability in flood-prone areas by reducing future losses. Flood preparedness and mitigation systems can aid in handling periodic flooding.
* Bridge designs such as concrete bridges that are sustainable, recyclable, durable and can be built quickly, reducing greenhouse gas emissions
Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and ...
caused by traffic delays and construction equipment.
Types
Environmental impact design impacts can be broken down into three types:
* Direct impacts: caused by the project and building process, such as land consumption
Land consumption as part of human resource consumption is the conversion of land with healthy soil and intact habitats into areas for industrial agriculture, traffic (road building) and especially urban human settlements. More formally, the EE ...
, erosion and loss of vegetation.
* Indirect impacts: side-effects of a project such as degradation of surface water quality from erosion of land cleared as a result of a project. Over time, indirect impacts can affect larger geographical areas.
* Cumulative impacts: synergistic effects such as the impairment of water regulation and filtering capabilities of wetland systems due to construction.
Environmental impacts of design must consider the site of the project.
Environmental Impact Design should address issues revealed by Environmental impact assessments (EIA). EID looks for ways to minimize costs to the developer, while maximizing the benefit to the environment.
Construction
Historically in construction, the needs of the owner were paramount, as constrained by local laws and policies, such as building safety and zoning
Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...
. EID broadens those concerns to encompass environmental impacts. Low impact development and ecologically focused building practices originated in Germany following World War II. The widespread destruction and a large homeless population gave Germans the chance to refocus building practices. Prefabrication was adopted in both East and West Germany where, in the 1950s and 60s, modular construction systems were developed for residential buildings.Roaf, Susan, et al. Ecohouse : A Design Guide. vol. 3rd ed, Taylor & Francis [CAM], 2007. pg 49. EBSCOhost
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International programs
In 1992, at the Earth Summit
The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio Conference or the Earth Summit (Portuguese: ECO92), was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to June 14, 1992.
Earth Su ...
, policy makers adopted Agenda 21
Agenda 21 is a non-binding action plan of the United Nations with regard to sustainable development. It is a product of the Earth Summit (UN Conference on Environment and Development) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. It is an action age ...
, which focused on sustainable development. In 1996, the UN Conference on Human Settlements Habitat II
Habitat II, the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements was held in Istanbul, Turkey from June 3–14, 1996, twenty years after Habitat I held in Vancouver in 1976. Popularly called the "City Summit", it brought together high-level ...
discussed transferring sustainable building practices to an urban scale. From 1999 to 2003, the U.S. Green Building Council
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), co-founded by Mike Italiano, David Gottfried and Rick Fedrizzi in 1993, is a private 501(c)3, membership-based non-profit organization that promotes sustainability in building design, construction, and op ...
kick-started the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design or (LEED) which is now the most well-known standard for green building.
Building life cycle
The "building life cycle" is an approach to design that considers environmental impacts such as pollution and energy consumption over the life of the building. This theory evolved into the idea of cradle-to-cradle
Cradle-to-cradle design (also referred to as 2CC2, C2C, cradle 2 cradle, or regenerative design) is a biomimetic approach to the design of products and systems that models human industry on nature's processes, where materials are viewed as nutri ...
design, which adds the notion that at the end of a building's life, it should be disposed of without environment impact. The Triple Zero standard requires lowering energy, emissions and waste to zero. A successful life cycle building adopts approaches such as the use of recycled materials in the construction process as well as green energy
Energy is sustainable if it "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". Most definitions of sustainable energy include considerations of environmental aspects such as greenh ...
.
See also
* Environmental impact assessment
* Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol
The Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol (HSAP) is a global framework for assessing the sustainability of hydropower projects. The Protocol defines good and best practice at each stage of the life-cycle of a hydropower project across twe ...
* Landscape planning
Landscape planning is a branch of landscape architecture. According to Erv Zube (1931–2002) landscape planning is defined as an activity concerned with developing landscaping amongst competing land uses while protecting natural processes and ...
* Phytoremediation
Phytoremediation technologies use living plants to clean up soil, air and water contaminated with hazardous contaminants. It is defined as "the use of green plants and the associated microorganisms, along with proper soil amendments and agronom ...
References
{{Design
Environmental design
Environmental terminology
Design
A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design' ...