Wednesday 21 January 2015

Landscape Architecture Open Lecture: Water Sensitive Design

Dr Nigel Dunnett, University of Sheffield

5.30pm—7pm

Of the many challenges which climate change poses for the planning and design of the built environment, that of water is arguably the most significant. Addessing the tendency towards ever more frequent extreme events, whether flooding or dought, is a central concern for the landscape profession. Strategies for accommodating water into the urban en-vironment can no longer be seen as part of a separate issue of 'infrastructure', but as an integral part of the design of buildings, public spaces and streets.

Nigel Dunnett is Professor of Planting Design at the University of Sheffield.  He has pioneered the use of innovative approaches to landscape planting in the UK, and in the multi-functional use of vegetation in the built environment.  His activity is strongly interdisciplinary, focusing on the interface between ecology, design and horticulture in urban green space and built development, integrating ecology, horticulture and design within a creative and aesthetic framework. As co-author of the key books on sustainable drainage and urban rainwater management, this talk will focus primarily on this aspect of his work, although he is also renowned for his bold and dramatic naturalistic urban plantings; on 'modern meadows', biodiversity-enhancing design, and green roofs and roof gardens. Nigel acts widely as a consultant on planting design and ecological approaches to landscape design.  He and his colleague Professor James Hitchmough were the principal planting design and horticulture consultants for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.