Effective ways to deliver sustainability in urban and regional landscape strategies

This paper argues that, in order to deliver sustainable urban and regional landscapes, an integrated approach of individual elements such as legislations, design thinking and biodiversity needs to be considered. It forms part of a wider research project, examining the extent to which low carbon and sustainability can be delivered effectively in landscape strategies, which covers examples from the 'Landscape Observatory' (Spain), the 'Room for the River' and 'New Dutch Waterline' (Netherlands) and the 'HS2LV' project (UK). The Netherlands case study, presented in this paper, consisted by two large scale landscape projects is used to illustrate this approach. The 'Room for the River' and the 'New Dutch Waterline' are used to demonstrate how the idea of landscape, low carbon and design quality can shape the effective implementation of landscape strategies. Key elements and effective ways of delivering sustainable places have been identified through a series of real time visits, interviews and observations. The development of procurement processes, legislation, and understanding of the role of landscape sustainability and landscape quality as well as the importance of spatial representation of these ideas will be presented and discussed in order to illustrate a sustainable holistic approach and the tremendous impact that this has on the landscape and the region