Ecological Design

Central Park, like most city parks, is an example of landscape architecture.

Ecological Design is any form of design that minimizes environmentally destructive impacts by integrating itself with living processes. Ecological design is an integrative, ecologically responsible design discipline. It helps connect scattered efforts in green architecture, sustainable agriculture, ecological engineering, and other fields. Ecological design is both a profoundly hopeful vision and a pragmatic tool. By placing ecology in the foreground of design, it provides specific ways of minimizing energy and material use, reducing pollution, preserving habitat, and fostering community, health and beauty. It provides a new way of thinking about design. (Van der Ryn and Cowan, 1996)