Department of Architecture, School of Design and Environment, National University of Singapore,
4 Architecture Drive, Singapore 117566, Singapore Received 8 January 2002; received in revised form 23 August 2002; accepted 25 August 2002 Abstract Current research on sustainability of cities has favoured the implementation and conservation of greenery in the urban context. The benets of plants are not just environmental but recreational, aesthetic and emotional. The full benets of plants and the role they play in the ecology of cities remain to be mapped out but the general signicance of plants appears to be uncontested. This paper proposes a new architectural and planning metric for greenery in cities and buildings. This new metric, the green plot ratio (GPR), is based on a common biological parameter called the leaf area index (LAI), which is dened as the single-side leaf area per unit ground area. The green plot ratio is simply the average LAI of the greenery on site and is presented as a ratio that is similar to the building plot ratio (BPR) currently in use in many cities to control maximum allowable built-up oor area in a building development. GPR allows more precise regulation of greenery on site without excluding a corresponding portion of the site from building development. It provides exibility to the designer while simultaneously protecting the green quota in the design. This concept has been applied in a number of design competitions in which the author has collaborated with colleagues and various architectural practices. It has also been adopted as a planning requirement by the client authority for one of the competitions for which the author has entered. While seen as a fundamental and important metric, GPR is not in itself an indicator for all the ecological relationships between plants and cities. A larger set of related metrics need to be developed. 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Green plot ratio; Leaf area index; Ecological masterplanning; Plants; Urban landscape 1. Introduction One of the key components in the planning of sus- tainable cities, according to current research, is plants and planted spaces. Whitford et al., 2001 (abstract), in developing indicators for the ecological performance of urban areas in the UK noted that the greatest in- uence on ecological performance was the percentage of green space, particularly of trees. The elds of
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E-mail address: akiongbl@nus.edu.sg (B.L. Ong). landscape ecology and urban ecology have emerged from research to become the primary advocates of ecological design in cities. While a considerable body of research has been gathered, problems of integration and common standards remain to be resolved. Leitao and Ahern (2002), for example, noted that there are literally hundreds of metrics developed and that these metrics are frequently strongly correlated, and may be confounded (p. 74). They suggested a reduced list of 79 metrics categorised under two aspects of landscape planningcomposition and con- guration. According to Pauliet and Duhme (2000), 0169-2046/02/$20.00 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S0169- 2046( 02) 00191- 3 198 B.L. Ong / Landscape and Urban Planning 63 (2003) 197211 urban ecology in Europe is focused mainly on bio- logical surveys of habitat and autecological studies. They proposed the phrase urban metabolism to iden- tify studies developed around notions of exchange and transfer of energy and matter. Much current work is centred on natural habitats in the city: the conser- vation of existing greenery, and the establishment of new parklands and other forms of planted landscapes. The emphasis on vegetation is not unfounded. Attwell (2000) identied three broad areas in which plants are useful: environmentally, aesthetically and recreationally. The last two benets may be consid- ered to be incidental, although importantwe can obtain our aesthetic and recreational satisfaction in many ways, not necessarily with plants. It is the en- vironmental contribution of plants that is important to the development of sustainability in our cities and to our future. This aspect, predictably, is the primary concern of current researchers. Akbari et al. (2001) identied, among other benets, climate modication, carbon sequestration, ozone reduction (and conse- quently smog reduction), dry deposition of NO x , O 3 , and PM10 particulates, improvement in quality of life, increased value of landed properties, decreased rainwater runoff, and protection against oods. In a paper concerned with the implementation of environ- mental goals, Jensen et al. (2000) also focused on the environmental benets of plants. In this case, their environmental goal was identied as the potential of urban green spaces to contribute to organic waste recycling, surface runoff inltration, and biodiversity improvement. Whitford et al. (2001) identied four performance indicators also linked with green spaces: climate, hydrology, carbon storage and sequestration, and biodiversity. 1.1. Environmental benets of plants Specic environmental parameters monitored in research vary. The indicators identied by Whitford et al. (2001)climate, hydrology, carbon storage and sequestration, and biodiversityprovide a convenient shortlist. To this list may be added one other pollution control (ozone reduction, smog control, dry deposition of NO x and other gases and small particulates, and organic waste recycling). Of these, climate amelioration in terms of overall temperature reduction and subduing the heat-island ef- fect has been most widely studied. The primary cause of heat build-up in cities is insulation, the absorption of solar radiation by roads and buildings in the city and the storage of this heat in the building material and its subsequent re-radiation. Akbari et al. (2001) advocate the use of cool surfaces (surfaces with a high albedo or reective index) as a remedy but it can be demonstrated that planted surfaces are more effective than even high albedo surfaces in reducing heat build-up. Building materials, however high their albedo, absorb heat and store it. Even white surfaces can become as much as 10
C higher than the ambient
temperature (Akbari et al., 2001, p. 298). Plant sur- faces however, as a result of transpiration, do not rise more than 45
C above the ambient and are some-
times cooler (Jones, 1992). The effectiveness of vegetation cover in terms of controlling rainwater runoff is clearly reected in studies by Pauliet and Duhme (2000). The data pre- sented later (Fig. 1) were extracted from Table 2 of Pauleit and Duhmes report and show a clear corre- lation between percentage vegetation coverage and surface runoff. Carbon storage and sequestration are directly corre- lated to plant metabolism, and photosynthesis in par- ticular. For the purpose of most of the studies sampled here, the metrics were based on land area coverage. This is calculated either in terms of actual coverage (m 2 ) or percentage cover, with a distinction sometimes made between lawn (grass) and trees and bushes. Whitford et al. (2001), for example, use percentage tree cover as the main determinant of both carbon stor- age and sequestration in their work. Pollution control (ozone reduction, smog control, dry deposition of NO x and other gases and small particulates, and organic waste recycling) involves both air-borne and water-borne wastes. In the natural state, as Lovelock (1989) pointed out, the recycling of animal waste is the primary resource for plants. He phrases it neatly (p. 26): I say that only by pollution do we survive. We an- imals pollute the air with carbon dioxide, and the vegetation pollutes it with oxygen. The pollution of one is the meat of another. Gaia (the planet earth) is more subtle, and, at least until humans appeared, polluted this region of the solar systemwith no more than the gentle warmth of infrared radiation. B.L. Ong / Landscape and Urban Planning 63 (2003) 197211 199 Fig. 1. Relationship between surface runoff and percentage vegetation cover (data extracted from Pauliet and Duhme, 2000, Table 2data excluded related to railroads and construction sites, which had porous ground but were devoid of vegetation cover, and waterbodies like lakes, ponds and streams). It should be noted that the recycling of resources between animals and plants has kept the planet in rel- ative ecological balance for millions, if not billions, of years. The use of plants to recycle our wastes is thus, interestingly, a re-engagement with the forces of natural ecology. The problem here is not the act of re- cycling itself, but the quantitywe need to adjust our pollution to levels within the processing limits of the plants we use. Conversely, Karlik and Winer (2001) studied bio- genic emissions of plants that contribute to the pro- duction of ozone and other photochemical compounds and hence promote pollution rather than reduce it. These emissions are characteristic of certain plant species and the amount emitted is linked to leaf mass. Biodiversity is a difcult parameter. While desir- able, neither a minimum benchmark nor how an ac- ceptable balance can be achieved manually have yet been identied. Nature, of course, establishes its own equilibrium and both enables and requires a high level of biodiversity to maintain this equilibrium. In the man-made landscape, it is not clear quantitatively how biodiversity benets the human environment. On the whole, the recommendation is towards greater biodi- versity and enabling a natural balance as much as pos- sible. Connections between green patches are useful in helping animal migration but also increase the risk of infection and contamination. It should be noted that the earlier benets (and dis- advantages) of plants are dependent primarily on the extent of leaves or leaf area. In current literature, the exact species of the plant (with the notable exception of biogenic emitting plants studied by Karlik and Winer, 2001) and the nature of the landscape (whether it is a nature reserve or an articially maintained land- scape, even agricultural) are generally less critical than the extent of greenery available. For the purposes of urban ecological planning, it would appear that farmland has much in common with natural ecosys- tems (Whitford et al., 2001, p. 91). Such generali- sations, while patently untrue, are however necessary and valid when a larger context like cities are being studied. 200 B.L. Ong / Landscape and Urban Planning 63 (2003) 197211 Fig. 2. Proposed tropical megacity cooled by plants (source: Tay, 1989). 2. Integration of architecture and greenery Current literature separates built-up urban areas from planted landscapes. Underlying the proposals Fig. 3. An ecological vision of Manhattan greened (source: SITE, Green Architecture and Urbanism, 1990). set forth by various authors, there is a simple assumed scenario. The built environment is assumed to be gen- erally hard and impervious. Against this are planted landscapes, or greenery, which may be man-made or B.L. Ong / Landscape and Urban Planning 63 (2003) 197211 201 wild. The two componentsbuilt environment ver- sus planted landscapecompete for site coverage. Little distinction is made between the two landscape typologiesman-made versus wildexcept in terms of tree cover. The general recommendation is to en- courage increased greenery and higher levels of tree cover and biodiversity. However, enlightened architects and designers are looking at ways to incorporate greenery into their de- signs (Figs. 2 and 3, for example). A new term skygardenshas been introduced to refer to planted landscapes built above the ground: in intermediate oors of high-rise buildings or at the rooftop (Fig. 4). How do these new design concepts gure in the met- rics set-up by current research? Is a roof garden equiv- Fig. 4. A high-rise residential block designed for the Liuxiancun Ecocity competition which features extensive plantingthe entire ground oor, two skygardens on every three oors which take up two out of a nine-square mandala, and roof garden (GPR = 2:1). alent to a similar sized garden on the ground? Is a high-rise building enwrapped by greenery on its roof as well as facades (Fig. 2) as effective as a mature tree of similar size? How can we tell? If the incorpo- ration of plants into architecture is somewhat, if not equally, as effective as greenery on ground, then the antagonistic face-off between urban ecologists and ar- chitects/planners/designers may be turned into one of collaboration. 2.1. Architectural benets of incorporating greenery There are several benets to incorporating plants into the building itself. The shade provided by the 202 B.L. Ong / Landscape and Urban Planning 63 (2003) 197211 plants reduces the cooling load of the building and to that extent, also helps to reduce the buildings con- tribution to the urban heat-island effect. Hydrologi- cal benets are also derived. Not only do the plants themselves capture rain, and the soil on which they grow help reduce runoff, the remaining rainwater can be collected for human use within the building. The plants and growing medium help to sieve and lter the water so that less of the rain needs to be rejected. Planted waterbodies can also be designed to help recy- cle wastewater for reuse within the building. Carbon storage and sequestration also occur and if harvested and dried, the plants may be used as fuel. Pollution control by plants in buildings is not diminished when compared to greenery planted at ground level. On the other hand, the capacity of planted spaces in buildings to support a range of dependent biota is not well estab- lished. Common wisdom suggests that small animals are less common the higher the oor is above ground and that species richness may be reduced because of isolation of skygardens from the ground. Beyond this, plants in high-rise buildings also help to humanise the building and give tenants a stronger emotional relationship to the ground. If well tended and healthy, plants and greenery are generally aesthet- ically pleasing to most people. For some, the space and opportunity to garden in high-rise buildings may also be welcome. 2.2. The need for a greenery metric The strategic position of greenery in sustainability argues for a common metric. A common metric is im- portant if research ndings and empirical data are to be shared and compared. Experience gained from various projects can then be more easily consolidated and ap- plied to new projects. Data developed by different re- searchers can contribute to a common knowledge base. The selected metric must meet rigorous standards and broad applicability. Current correlation between envi- ronmental benets and land coverage is coarse and at best, indicative. Current parameters also assume exist- ing typological congurations which may not be ap- plicable with new ecological building alternatives. The present paper proposes a green metric that does not presuppose typical congurations of land and building. The proposed metric is based on a bi- ological parameterleaf area index (LAI)that is currently used to monitor the ecological health of natural ecosystems and to mathematically model and predict plant metabolic processes. As such, it can be used to quantify planning metrics in biological terms. Being in common use in the biological sciences, it provides a useful link between planners, ecologists and scientists. 3. Green plot ratio (GPR) and leaf area index (LAI) In the literature reviewed, the primary metric for greenery is land cover. This metric is sometimes fur- ther delineated into lawns and shrubs-and-trees. The present paper proposes that a more scientic and ac- curate metric be adopted. Most, if not all, of the ben- ets gained from plants result from plant metabolic processes. These processes include photosynthesis, evapotranspiration, respiration and uptake of minerals from the air and ground. The extent to which plants engage in these processes is directly related to the amount of green matter, usually found in the leaves of the plant (see Jones, 1992, for example, for a detailed account of plant metabolism). Even dry deposition of pollutants and particulates depend on the total leaf area of the plant and its leaf characteristics. The total leaf area of a plant is indicated, in biolog- ical science, by the LAI. The present paper provides a summarised account of LAI in current application and proposes an equivalent planning metric called the green plot ratio (GPR), for urban planning. GPR is dened as the average LAI of the greenery on site. 3.1. LAIa metric for greenery LAI is related to a range of ecological processes like photosynthesis, transpiration and metabolism. These plant processes in turn enable the prediction of net primary production, rates of energy exchange between plants and the atmosphere, rates of future growth and yield, and the monitoring of changes in canopy structure due to pollution and climate change. The ability to estimate LAI is therefore a valuable tool in modelling the ecological processes occurring within a forest and in predicting ecosystem responses. Actual plant productivity is dependent on chlorophyll concentration, stomatal density and other physiolog- ical and environmental factors. B.L. Ong / Landscape and Urban Planning 63 (2003) 197211 203 In biological science, LAI is dened as the single- side leaf area per unit ground area. It is a dimensionless number. At a simplistic level, LAI can be considered simply as the ratio of leaves to ground covered. How- ever, in so far as chlorophyll and stomata concentra- tion differs from plant to plant and inuences the light absorption ability of the individual plant, LAI is more accurately understood in terms of its green content rather than leaf area alone. This is reected in the in- direct methods of measuring LAI, e.g. measurements of canopy transmittance or remote sensing techniques. These indirect methods measure the intensity of light transmittance or absorption rather than leaf area. As might be expected, LAI values from different methods vary. Indicative LAI for various biomes are available. Scurlock et al. (2001) provides a summary of selected biomes which is helpful in determining the corre- sponding LAI of urban greenery (Table 1). It may be noted that the LAI of various biomes range from about 1 to 2 for grasslands and 6 to 8 for plantations and wetlands. Shrubs have a mean LAI of 2 but depend- ing on the density of cover, can be expected to rise to about 4. The data in Table 1 may be used as indicative values, in lieu of actual measurements, of urban green- ery. It is reasonable, for example, to assume that turf Table 1 Statistical distribution of leaf area index by biome, for the data set Global Leaf Area Index Data from Field Measurements, 19322000 Biome Original data Data after IQR analysis Number of observations Mean Standard deviation Minimum Maximum Number of outliers removed Mean Standard deviation Minimum Maximum All 931 5.23 4.08 0.002 47.0 53 4.51 2.52 0.002 12.1 Forest/BoDBL 58 2.64 1.03 0.28 6.0 5 2.58 0.73 0.6 4.0 Forest/BoENL 94 3.50 3.34 0.48 21.6 8 2.65 1.31 0.48 6.21 Crops 88 4.22 3.29 0.2 20.3 5 3.62 2.06 0.2 8.7 Desert 6 1.31 0.85 0.59 2.84 0 1.31 0.85 0.59 2.84 Grassland 28 2.50 2.98 0.29 15.4 3 1.71 1.19 0.29 5.0 Plantation 77 8.72 4.32 1.55 18.0 0 8.72 4.32 1.55 18.0 Shrub 5 2.08 1.58 0.4 4.5 0 2.08 1.58 0.4 4.5 Forest/BoTeDNL 17 4.63 2.37 0.5 8.5 0 4.63 2.37 0.5 8.5 Forest/TeDBL 187 5.12 1.84 0.4 16.0 3 5.06 1.60 1.1 8.8 Forest/TeEBL 58 5.82 2.57 0.8 12.5 1 5.70 2.43 0.8 11.6 Forest/TeENL 215 6.70 5.95 0.002 47.0 16 5.47 3.37 0.002 15.0 Forest/TrDBL 18 3.92 2.53 0.6 8.9 0 3.92 2.53 0.6 8.9 Forest/TrEBL 61 4.90 1.95 1.48 12.3 1 4.78 1.70 1.48 8.0 Tundra 13 2.69 2.39 0.18 7.2 2 1.88 1.47 0.18 5.3 Wetlands 6 6.34 2.29 2.50 8.4 0 6.34 2.29 2.5 8.4 Preliminary analysis by Asner and co-workers, May 2000 (source: Scurlock et al., 2001). or grass will have an LAI of 1, herbal gardens or small bushes may have an LAI of 3 and highly wooded and densely populated landscapes with trees may reach an LAI of 6. 3.2. Methods for measuring LAI Several methods for measuring LAI exist. On the whole, current research in determining LAI (Martens et al., 1993; Wilkinson, 1991; Peper and McPherson, 1998; Gower et al., 1999; Green and Clark, 2000) us- ing destructive and/or non-destructive methods have been conducted on forest canopies, orchards and agri- cultural row crops rather than single trees or in the urban context. Peper and McPhersons (1998) work is distinctive in that their research was orientated to- wards the determination of LAI values of single trees in urban conditions and pertain more directly to this current paper. The methods of measuring LAI can be divided into two main categories: destructive and direct methods; and non-destructive and indirect methods. The direct methods essentially involve physically calculating the average area of individual leaves taken from a plant or parts of a tree and then extrapolating to the stand or the entire tree. Indirect methods in general involve 204 B.L. Ong / Landscape and Urban Planning 63 (2003) 197211 determining light transmittance values through the plant canopy and remote sensing measurements of Earths albedo; that is in effect a measure of the canopys absorption instead of its transmittance. 3.2.1. Direct measurement Direct estimates of LAI are obtained either by total harvesting or by partial harvesting. With partial har- vesting, the application of suitable allometric equa- tions can extrapolate the harvested data to the whole tree or stand. These allometric equations are not only species specic but also site specic as plant growth and leaf composition are strongly inuenced by nu- merous environmental and ecological factors. 3.2.2. Canopy transmittance The estimation of LAI using linear canopy mea- surements is based on the Beer-Lambert law. The Beer-Lambert law assumes that light is attenuated exponentially as it passes through the canopy in ac- cordance to the extinction coefcient, k. The light below the canopy, Q i , is related to the light above the canopy, Q 0 , and LAI, by the relationship. Q i = Q 0 e kLAI (1) The canopy is assumed to be randomly dispersed both in this instance and also in the use of hemi- spherical photography described later. This assump- tion is not true in fact as canopies can be observed Fig. 5. Hemispheric photograph used in the determination of LAI of a mulberry tree (source: Peper and McPherson, 1998). to be distributed into clumps rather than smoothly homogeneous, randomly distributed volumes. How- ever, the assumption is a necessary simplication that enables mathematical manipulation of collected data. 3.2.3. Hemispheric and other photographic methods The use of hemispherical photography in estimating LAI relies on the fact that tree canopies are unevenly distributed (Fig. 5) and therefore gaps exist through which unattenuated solar penetration may be assumed. The light intensity of other user-dened partitions of the canopy is then compared against this and averaged to obtain an average solar beam penetration (Peper and McPherson, 1998). The values obtained produce estimates of LAI, leaf distribution, mean foliage incli- nation, transmission coefcients for diffuse and radi- ation penetration, and extinction coefcient. Peper and McPherson (1998) also reported using a photographic method of determining LAI using tree proles. These are pictures of trees taken on elevation (Fig. 6). For greater accuracy, additional photographs are taken from different anglesPeper and McPher- son used two photographs at positions perpendicular to one another. 3.2.4. Remote sensing Remote sensing using satellite images is based on a discovered linear relationship between the normalised B.L. Ong / Landscape and Urban Planning 63 (2003) 197211 205 Fig. 6. Elevational photograph used in the determination of LAI (source: Peper and McPherson, 1998). difference vegetation index (NDVI) and LAI (Green and Clark, 2000). NDVI is calculated using values of red and infra-red bands of satellite photographs between 666.5 and 752.8 nm. A regression formula Fig. 7. Thematic map of leaf area index (LAI) for mangroves on the north-west of South Caicos Island (source: Green and Clark, 2000). linking NDVI values and LAI is then used to derive an LAI thematic map (Fig. 7). 4. Green plot ratio explained The concept of a green plot ratio is developed by combining the concepts of LAI and building plot ratio (BPR). BPR is dened as the ratio of gross liveable (or rentable) area and the site area. A site with a BPR of 2:1 can have a building that has a total useable oor area twice that of the site. The distribution of this oor area can be in the form of a two storey high building which covers the site entirely, a building that is four-storeys high which covers only half of the site, or permutations of various kinds. As the site coverage reduces, the building can be taller and have additional oors. Most skyscrapers, which may be 20 or more storeys high, are designed within a BPR of much less, perhaps 6:1 or 8:1. If we were to consider a lawn (Fig. 8), i.e. a patch of ground covered with grasswe may imagine that the ratio of grass to the ground is roughly 1:1. The LAI in this case is 1 and the corresponding green plot ratio is 1:1. A closer inspection will reveal that it is actually more but for the sake of discussion, the gure is close enough. 206 B.L. Ong / Landscape and Urban Planning 63 (2003) 197211 Fig. 8. Allocated green plot ratio (GPR) values based on ground cover (the values are rounded from data summarised by Scurlock et al., 2001; Table 1 above). If this patch of ground were to be covered instead by a clump of bushes, the total surface area of leaves ex- posed to the sun may be expected to be more. Leaves are translucent and leaves within a canopy are able to tap the transmitted light through the upper layer of leaves. Current research (e.g. Deshmukh, 1986; Jones, 1992; Scurlock et al., 2001see Table 1 above) sug- gests that a reasonable gure for this is about 3:1. That is, the total area of leaves exposed to the sun is about three times that of the area of the ground itself. If the ground is covered instead with full grown trees, with a dense canopy and closely planted individ- ual trees, the ratio would be yet higher6:1 or even 10:1. From Table 1, a more reasonable ratio for the most heavily planted landscape would be 6:1. The green plot ratio has been dened earlier as the average LAI of the greenery on the site. It can also be equivalently dened as the ratio of the total single-side leaf area of the planted landscape to the plot or site area. Its value is effectively the same as the average LAI but expressed as a ratio rather than a single gure to reect the normal practice for calcu- lating maximum allowable oor area in architectural and planning practice. GPR is a more reasonable indication of the effectiveness of the greenery on a site than current metrics based on the extent of site coverage because it is directly related to the amount of photosynthetically active leaves on site. 4.1. The ecological value of GPR Since GPR replicates the conventional planning in- strument of BPR, it is easily understood by the design and planning professions while maintaining a direct correlation to scientic measures. In practice, GPR is specied as a ratio applied to the whole site. Because of this, GPR enables the designer to off- set areas of low LAI values with areas of high LAI values. The specication of GPR is useful in various ways. Firstly, it enables urban planners to specify a minimum acceptable degree of ecological responsive- ness without restricting or predetermining the design proposal. Secondly, it provides designers greater ex- ibility in terms of design options since it is a targeted degree of green composition that is specied rather than land cover. Thirdly, it is consistent with current practices of measuring the ecological health of natu- ral ecosystems using remote sensing technology, and can therefore be a similar indicator of the ecological health of urban areas. Finally, it is possible to include urban environments in a global audit of the planets ecological health using satellites and remote sensing technology. The use of GPR carries some caveats. GPR alone cannot indicate species richness on site. Leitao and Ahern (2002), for example, have provided a more de- tailed discussion of applicable metrics in a broader B.L. Ong / Landscape and Urban Planning 63 (2003) 197211 207 ecological context. The determination of which set of metrics should nally be used lies outside the scope of the present paper. Issues to be answered include the denition of urban ecology, not as a broad eld encom- passing various research directions, but as a planning and design target with quantiable criteria to be met and regulated. While additional ecological criteria are needed, they do not, however, replace the usefulness of GPR but complement it. It is argued here that GPR, and its correlate LAI, are metrics fundamental to the development of this larger set of ecological metrics. 4.2. Application in architecture and urban planning GPR has been applied by the author to a number of design proposals. GPR can be applied as an urban tool, for masterplanning, as well as an architectural design tool, for individual buildings. The determina- tion of suitable GPR may take one of three possible Fig. 9. Masterplan of Liuxiancun Ecocity showing the central nature reserve and ecologically designed high-rise housing in the corresponding terrain. options. It can reect the desired degree of greenery from the viewpoint of the planners and/or users. In this case, the GPR will be an arbitrary number to be settled by negotiationon social, aesthetic and environmen- tal grounds. The GPR value can also be determined on the grounds of anticipated use of the site. For ex- ample, it is more difcult to achieve a high GPR in an industrial or commercial site than in a residential or recreational site. Until suitable designs and tech- nologies are developed, this is likely to be the most common method of determination. Finally, the GPR value can also be determined in terms of ecology either in terms of the current LAI of the site before development, in terms of restoration of the green- ery on site to reect a specic period historically, or as part of an ecological masterplan requiring specic LAI values for greenery at various sites. The author prefers the last option and has applied it in two design competitions in which he has participated in recent years. 208 B.L. Ong / Landscape and Urban Planning 63 (2003) 197211 4.2.1. Liuxiancun ecocity, Shenzhen, China The design entry for Liuxiancun new town (Foo and Ong, 1999) was a collaboration between the author, Dr. Foo Ah Fong, Archurban Architects and Planners, and CESMA (a subsidiary of the Housing and De- velopment Board, Singapore). Although not required within the brief, the approach taken was to implement ecological measures as fundamentally and as exten- sively as possible. The strategies adopted included bioclimatic design, conservation of natural landscapes, energy conservation, intelligent building design, and extensive greenery. A key strategy was to incorpo- rate skygardensgardens incorporated into high-rise buildings above ground level. In the prototypical high-rise housing design (Fig. 4) that was proposed, the rst level of accommodation was raised 3 storeys above the ground to enable light penetration into the entire ground oor. This allowed the ground oor or void deck under the building to be extensively land- scaped. There were two skygardens every three oors which took up two of the nine square mandala upon which the plan was based. The roof was also greened. The individual buildings achieved a GPR of about 2:1. Fig. 10. Planted and naturally ventilated basement carpark. The plants provide visual relief, aesthetics, and environmental benets as well as reduce the need for mechanical ventilation and articial lighting. Sixty percent of the site was conserved and returned to nature (Fig. 9). This portion of the site was origi- nally a quarry and was, at the time of the competition, open for commercial exploitation. It was mountainous and was, for high-rise buildings, expensive to build upon. On the other hand, it had a scenic topography and good potential for development as a nature reserve. Our proposal, by conserving this part of the site, not only reduced the cost of construction (we built only on at terrain and 60% of the site did not require any civil work), the value of the project was also increased by introducing a nature reserve within easy access. Asell- ing point of the project was that there would be a view from any apartment of this landscape, and there will be a garden just outside the front door. The GPR for the conserved part of the site was set at maximum6:1. A key innovation was to design an underground car park which would be ventilated by large landscaped openings which opened to the sky (Fig. 10). This proposal would save costs and energy consumption required for articial ventilation as well as provide natural lighting, ventilation and other environmental advantages arising from the plants. B.L. Ong / Landscape and Urban Planning 63 (2003) 197211 209 Fig. 11. Specied GPR for Bouna Vista competition site. The dark areas were nature reserves that met a GPR of 6:1. It is only within the building compounds that a GPR of 1:1 was thought necessary. The design proposal won rst prize in the limited invited competition and is currently under planning. 4.2.2. Bouna Vista Tech Park, Singapore Another collaboration, this time with Design Vista, another architectural practice in Singapore, involved a competition design for a hi-tech science park for start-up companies in Information and Communica- tion Technology (ICT), media, and the life sciences. The site lies slightly outside the Central Busi- ness District and is surrounded by several academic and research institutionsthe National University of Singapore, the National University Hospital, the Singapore Polytechnic, and Science Parks I and II. Several stretches of green may be found on site and the neighbouring institutions are also well endowed with signicant patches of green. Much of the exist- ing site is naturally landscaped with a high density of trees. Existing residential units are far apart and low-rise (ve storeys and less). The design entry began by establishing existing greenery and con- necting them into a nature reserve of GPR of 6:1 (Fig. 11). This time, in contrast with the Liuxiancun site, the greenery was organised around the low lying parts of the site that currently oods during high rainfall. The rainwater collected will be used to forminterconnected waterbodies rather than be drained away as is the cur- rent practice. The architectural proposal was organised around the concept of colleges, which consisted of residential halls, research departments and communal facilities. Like the Liuxiancun project, the buildings were designed to include as much greenery as possible (Fig. 12). With these measures, a GPR of 3:1 for most of the rest of the site could be maintained. It is only within the compound of the residences and department buildings that a GPR of 1:1 was proposed. Despite this low provision, it is anticipated that a higher GPR of 2:1 is possible based upon the earlier Liuxiancun project. Although the design entry did not make it into the shortlist, the concept of GPR was picked up and 210 B.L. Ong / Landscape and Urban Planning 63 (2003) 197211 Fig. 12. Planted design for proposed residential apartments for Bouna Vista competition entry. Note the planting on the roof, facades, central spaces and at ground level. It is anticipated that the nal green coverage will meet a GPR of 1:1. adopted by the organisers, Jurong Town Corporation, and will be applied in the nal development of the projectnow renamed 1 North. 5. Conclusion One of the primary strategies in the greening of the built environment is the incorporation of trees and plants. There are several benets to increasing the amount of greenery in citiesenvironmentally, aes- thetically, and recreationally. Current research not only supports the argument that plants are an important in- gredient in balancing the polluting effects of cities, but also found plants to be aesthetically and emotionally benecial. In fact, it is not the benecial signicance of plants that is surprising but the ability of modern society to camouage our dependence on plants. Paper alone accounts for nearly half of the global appetite for wood and together with the use of hardwoods for furniture and building construction, is responsible for much of the destruction of natural forests and habitat in the world today. Most of our medicine, clothing, furniture, ooring and building material come directly from plants. Of course, we still rely on plants for food, as do the animals we eat. Similarly, the oxygen in the air we breathe still comes entirely from plants. Plants are also responsible for the cleanliness of the water in our rivers, streams and other natural waterbodiesto the degree that these waterbodies are clean and have not been polluted by our industries. A proper, and future, strategy for a sustainable city must not only include plants but be more precise in channelling plants towards balancing what Pauliet and Duhme (2000) have called urban metabolism. Better technology will be needed to increase the efciency of cities and reduce their pollution levels, but it is likely that all the best efforts will not be enough if the role of plants in the sustainability of cities is not recognised. To do this, cities will need to be described in ecological B.L. Ong / Landscape and Urban Planning 63 (2003) 197211 211 terms such that the ecological impact of cities on the global environment can be identied and monitored. Within cities themselves, ecological processes of cities cannot be separated into industrial and natural systems but the two will need to be resolved and integrated. Both human needs and the need to maintain natures equilibrium will have to be met concurrentlynot just globally but within the urban context. The green plot ratio, or GPR, proposed here is a small, but hopefully, useful step towards enabling this development of a future strategy for sustainability in our cities. Based on a biological parameter, LAI, cur- rently used to monitor the metabolic rate of agricul- tural elds and the overall ecological impact of natural ecosystems, GPR bridges the elds of ecology, bio- logical science and urban planning. The concept has been used in two projects involving the author and is currently being considered for regulatory adoption in Singapore. Acknowledgements The work presented is a culmination of collabora- tion with colleagues, architects and planners over the last few years. In particular, the contribution and sup- port of the Department of Architecture, Dr. Foo Ah Fong, Archurban Architects and Planners, CESMA, Design Vista and Jurong Town Corporation are gladly acknowledged. References Akbari, H., Pomerantz, M., Taha, H., 2001. 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Ecological Economics Volume 66 Issue 4 2008 [Doi 10.1016%2Fj.ecolecon.2007.10.023] J.R. Siche; F. Agostinho; E. Ortega; A. Romeiro -- Sustainability of Nations by Indices- Comparative Study Between Environmental Sustainability Inde