Sustainable Park Landscaping as an Approach for the Development of the Built Environment: Review and Employment

Abstract

Implementing sustainable principles when landscaping parks is vital for the development of the built environment, and should take into account environmental, social, economic, and cultural aspects, in order to eliminate conflict between developmental requirements, and the need to preserve cultural and natural resources. This paper reviews the guidelines that should be considered for current and future sustainable parks in regions with a moderate climate, in order to ensure that they incorporate ecotourism, cost effective operation and maintenance, a clean environment, the promotion of renewable energy, and resource preservation. A number of parks, located in moderate climate zones, are studied in terms of aspects such as their location, topography, operation, and landscaping characteristics, to demonstrate the prevailing normative values that can be applied to sustainable park design. Prince Meshari Park, in Al-Baha city, Saudi Arabia, is employed as a case study for applying all of the guidelines proposed in this investigation, and to highlight some of their merits and limitations in terms of the current situation of the park.

Keywords

• sustainable parks
• cost-effective parks
• environmental balance
• landscaping
• resource preservation
• ecotourism