vegetation and site planning

7/25/2019 Vegetation and Site Planning

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PLANTS AND PEOPLE

The human race couldnot exist without plants,yet their importance ispersistently ignored by

government, theirofcials, developers andindividuals when they

make decisions about


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Plants are vital to human lie because:

They provide oxygen we need to breath

They provide ood we eat

They provide the habitats to support wildlie anddomesticated animals

They provide the soul rom erosion

They control the rate at which rainwater is madeavailable to the soil and underground water supplies

They make soil ertile by providing humus andreturning nutrients to the soil and inuencing soilstructure

They make the climate more moderate locally andthey also have maor impact through the greatorest on world and regional climates


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Plants are ragile living organisms and itoo many are removed it can lead some

areas to environmental catastrophies.


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!ntil recently plants were given a lowpriority by those involved in site

development. "ow, it is at least partlyrecogni#ed that the conservation o plantswhere possible, should apply on all sites.

Particularly in cities it has been regardedas usti$es to eradicate plants totally roma site.


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%nly recent have site planners anddevelopers begun to understand that

plants are more than decorative elementsin cities or they have too oten been seenas useul in improving the visual &uality othe city. "ow people are becoming aware

that plants have an even greaterinuence over environmental health inthe city than they have over the visualenvironment.


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They perorm many unctions whichmake lie in the city more bearable. 'or

instance they modiy: (icroclimate

)educe glare

They create shade

They inuence the movement o air throughthe city and through its unbuilt areas

They remove dust particles and cleanse theair o other impurities

*nd increase the possibility o privacy


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+n addition, through the wildlie theysupport, plants provide signs o the linkbetween man and nature which, as the!rban ildlie movements o many-uropean countries attest, is seen as ogrowing importance by city dwellers in

the developed countries. Perhapsbecause in the modern industrial citypopulations are urthest removed romultimate man or nature interace o

having to work the land or ood, theyseem to be seeking to renew the linkwith nature in a new way within the city.


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PLANTS AND SITE

PLANNING


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ite planner must collect very detailedinormation about the plants that grown on and

around the proects area so that they canunderstand the role that plats do and couldplay in the site layout proposal.

The site planners has to understand the role o

plants in the environment: That plants can never be neglected by any

site planner intent on producing anenvironmentally sensitive layout.

That plants selection can never be arbitrarybecause all plants are site speci$c in theirre&uirements or growth and survival.


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There are sites where the use o plants isinappropriate but, to be able to identiywhere these are, the planner has to

understand how plants are used in awider areas than that covered by theproect and, thereore, must always lookbeyond the immediate area o the site.

The decision to preserve existing plants orto induce new ones should be arbitrary. +tshould relate to the area in which the site

is located as well as to the character othe proect. The positioning o the plantedareas, the species used, whether theplants are native or exotic, will bedetermined by the site plan design. The


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PLANTS ARE LIVING

THINGS


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ithin development proects plantshave rarely been understood as living

elements in the landscape.

Too oten trees are regarded assculptures, which will survivewhatever happens around them. +tappears probable that this lack ounderstanding o the trees, as a living

elements re&uiring certain conditionsor survival, is a reason or every highdeath rate among newly planted trees

in recent development schemes.


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Planting is oten carried out in totallyunsustainable /soils0, wit no proper

preparation o the ground and with noatercare. Perhaps due to the increasingpublic understanding o the naturalenvironment, the way site planners anddevelopers regarded plants to bechanging. Public and political attitudes,however, need to change aster, i the

continued erosion o natural vegetationand particularly decline in the numbero mature trees is to be halted.


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PLANT COMMUNITIES
http://var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/Plant%20community.pptxhttp://var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/Plant%20community.pptx


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To those unamiliar with plants isoten appears that plants growhapha#ardly. this impression orandomness is emphasi#ed in 1ritainwhere, because o the mild climate,

plants rom all over the worldourish in parks and garden. +n isgenerally only when, as site

planners, we become concerned toconserve nature and the integrity oa landscape, or to keep the cost olandscape maintenance to aminimum that we reali#ed the


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here it is the intention to conservenature or produce a naturalistic

landscape, it is necessary to workwith plant communities. "ativevegetation will support the greatestrange o native wildlie. +t also hasthe added advantage that i /$ts0 thelocal landscape, it looks right2itsorm3shape4 is characteristic o local

landscape, its colours blend with thelocal landscape, it is appropriate touse the native species o plants.


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+n addition, native vegetation hasthe advantage o being moreresistant than exotic species to theplant growth problems associatedwith local ungi, aphids and plant

disease. +t is, thereore, sensible touse it where possible to minimi#ethe long2term management cost

associated with the care o alllandscapes.


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Major Factors infuencing thecharacteristics o plant community


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+n a small country like 1ritain thereare distinct vegetation changes in

di5erent parts o the countryside.These vegetation changes arebecause plants only tolerant o a

certain range o conditions, some awide range others a narrow range.urvival are determined by localclimate and soil and inuenced by theway in which people have tended theland in the past and present.


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Plant 6ommunities are change by thepast and present actions o urban and

rural populations. oodland elled

etland drained

*griculture has been mechani#ed

*rti$cial ertili#es used

7ra#ing regimes change

Towns built

1ogs drained


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+n order to produce natural2lookinglandscapes and to conserve the localwildlie, the site planner has to know:

the range o plants that are locally important andto understand how they can be grouped togetherin communities, to unction as support ordi5erent types o wildlie.

"eeds to recogni#e the scarcity o natural andsemi2natural vegetation in various parts o theworld and to ensure that any areas worthy oretention as a scarce resource occurring withinthe proect site are conserve.

*lso need to consider the impact o developmentwithin the proect area on any adacent or nearbyareas o rare vegetation or plant communities.


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'or these reasons a detailed surveyo plants immediately around the

site is re&uired. This inormation alsogives the site planner who is workingon the plantless site an idea o

which plants might be appropriate inrelation to the local naturalenvironment.

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