The Butterfly Effect: How a Colorado Development Became a Pollinator Performance Paradise

by Alex Bullock, PLA, Wenk Associates

• Landscape performance research

In 2019, a scientist in search of pollinators completed an audit of an ecologically unproductive, 1,000-acre site in Broomfield, Colorado. As an employee of Butterfly Pavilion, she and the team were disappointed to review the bee and butterfly observations on her clipboard: a single (quasi-invasive) cabbage white butterfly (Pieris rapae). Amy Yarger was partnered with McWhinney, the company planning to build the mixed-use development on the site.

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New Landscape Review Issue Highlights Landscape Performance

• Announcements
• Landscape performance research

The November 2024 issue of the open-access Oceania-based journal Landscape Review is devoted to the topic of landscape performance, with a special focus on the connection between academia and practice.

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Landscape Performance Case Studies on the World Stage

• Announcements
• Landscape performance research

LAF is pleased to share two new resources – developed and released for COP29 by friends and partners – that use examples and data from our collection of 200+ Landscape Performance Series case studies.

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National Study of Playgrounds: An Observational Study of Play and Design

• Landscape performance research
• Metrics and methods
• Post-occupancy evaluation

How does design influence the use of playgrounds and the benefits they offer children, adults, and communities? The National Study of Playgrounds is the first observational study to examine the influence of design on use and physical activity in 60 playgrounds in the United States. The study was conducted over the summer of 2021 by Meghan Talarowski and her team at Studio Ludo, Dr. Deborah Cohen of Kaiser Permanente, Dr. Thomas McKenzie, and other partners.

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Sustainable Urban Ecology and Landscape Performance at ASU

• Landscape performance research
• Post-occupancy evaluation

An Arizona State University (ASU) team made up of practitioners and researchers are using landscape performance metrics to support a new vision of Sustainable Urban Ecology as they plan for ASU’s future landscape management. ASU’s Sustainable Urban Ecology plan focuses on managing and incorporating natural systems, with particular attention to enhancing biodiversity, water conservation and extreme heat mitigation, with a particular focus on the Sonoran Desert Biome that is home to four ASU campuses.

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