Developing a Landscape Sustainability Assessment Model Using an Analytic Hierarchy Process in Korea

Hyung-Sook Lee,Eun-Yeong Park

doi:10.3390/su12010301

Hyung-Sook Lee, Eun-Yeong Park

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su12010301

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Dec 30, 2019
Citations: 13	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Kyungpook National University, Joongbu University

Abstract

With the increasing interest in integrative sustainable development, there has been a strong need for a landscape sustainability assessment tool independent from the existing green building rating system. This study aimed to establish an assessment model to objectively evaluate landscape sustainability using an analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Through an extensive literature review and expert survey, an initial list of assessment items was derived and used to set up an AHP model. An AHP survey with landscape architects and architects/engineers was then conducted to determine the importance of the assessment factors. In addition, the model was applied to three projects that were previously certified by a green building rating system in Korea. The AHP results showed that “site context” ranked as the most important factor of landscape sustainability followed by “soil and vegetation,” “maintenance,” “water,” “health and wellbeing,” and “materials.” Among the 20 assessment factors, “monitoring plan” was evaluated as the most important index, followed by “protection of cultural heritage” and “long-term management plan.” Landscape architects evaluated “soil and vegetation” as the most important in the assessment, while the engineers/architects group rated “site context” as the most important. When tested by applying them to the previously certified projects, the developed factors provided more objective and detailed information on landscape sustainability.

Highlights

Active discussions are being held worldwide on ways of improving the environment, such as optimizing buildings’ energy use and reducing CO2 emissions to tackle climate change [1,2,3]
Led by the Building Research Establishment Environment Assessment Method (BREEAM) of the UK in 1991 [6], there has been the development of Canada’s SBTool [7], Japan’s Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency (CASBEE) [8], Australia’s Green Star [9], Singapore’s Green Mark [10], and the US’s Leadership in Energy and environmental Design (LEED) V1.0 enacted by the U.S Green Building Council (USGBC) in 1998 [11,12,13]
In the current situation, where only building certification exists in Korea, we focused on developing assessment criteria that may be used as basic data to establish sustainability certification for landscaping and outdoor spaces in the future

Summary

Introduction

Active discussions are being held worldwide on ways of improving the environment, such as optimizing buildings’ energy use and reducing CO2 emissions to tackle climate change [1,2,3]. The US, in particular, has been implementing the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES) since 2012, apart from its existing green building certification system LEED, through which various landscape sustainability factors of all project sites are assessed regardless of buildings. This has led to sustainable and integrated design, from development planning of the project site to design and management [11]. While the ecology category of the Green Standard for Energy and Environmental Design (G-SEED), Korea’s green building rating system, includes sustainability assessment items related to landscape and external environment, this is strictly limited. G-SEED can only assess projects that include buildings and, it is inadequate for assessing various forms of landscapes or parks, green spaces, and other facilities [15]

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