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PHYTOREMEDIATION: INTEGRATING ART AND ENGINEERING THROUGH PLANTING
Citation:
Rock*, S A. PHYTOREMEDIATION: INTEGRATING ART AND ENGINEERING THROUGH PLANTING. Chapter 5, Kirkwood, N. (ed.), Manufactured Sites: Rethinking the Post-Industrial Landscape, Chapter 5. Spon Press, New York, NY, , 52-58, (2001).
Description:
Landscape Architecture and Remediation Engineering are related fields, united by common areas of endeavor, yet they have strikingly different languages, techniques, and habits of thought. What unites the fields is the fact that they often work on the same site, with the common goal of making what may be a derelict and hazardous landscape once again functionally and esthetically integrated. Both professions use some of the same tools, for example GIS mapping to evaluate a location, or earthmovers to control run-off and shape the site. What separates the professions is time. Typically, remediation is complete before the landscape architect is brought onto the project. Projects may benefit from a closer integration of these often disparate fields, and not all sites need to be completely remediated before reuse, especially if part of the reuse helps clean the site. Photoremediation is the use of living planted material to clean environmental hazards. Work is underway to develop and evaluate planted systems that remove or detoxify contaminants from soil, sediments, and groundwater. On some sites, it is possible to place planting in such a way as to allow partial reuse o the site for public access or ongoing development while the clean-up is in process. Here phytoremediation and creative site design are united by the use of planted systems that both remediate and at the same time establish spatial and functional paterns of use.