Details and Materials for Resilient Sites A Climate Positive Approach

1. Introduction: Details and Materials for Resilient Sites

2. Decarbonization of Materials and Structures

3. Resource Efficiency and the Circular Economy

4. Healthy and Ethical Materials and Products

5. Assessing the Impacts of Materials, Products and Structures

STRUCTURES AND ASSEMBLIES FOR RESILIENT SITES

6. Pavements

7. Porous Pavements and Green Roofs

8. Retaining Walls and Bioengineered Embankments

9. Freestanding Walls

10. Decks and Boardwalks

11. Rails, Fences, and Screens

MATERIALS FOR RESILIENT SITES

12. Aggregates and Sand Materials

13. Stone Materials

14. Concrete Materials and Products

15. Asphalt Pavement Materials

16. Earth-based Materials

17. Fired Clay Bricks

18. Wood Materials and Products

19. Biobased Materials and Products

20. Metals and Metal Products

21. Plastics and Plastic Products

Biography

Meg Calkins, FCELA, FASLA, is Professor of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at North Carolina State University. She holds an MLA and MArch from the University of California at Berkeley and has taught and written about resilient site design and sustainable construction for over 25 years.

Meg is also the author of Materials for Sustainable Sites (2008) and editor of the Sustainable Sites Handbook (2012). She has been a frequent contributing editor to Landscape Architecture magazine, writing several articles on site construction materials and exemplary designed works, and she won the Bradford Williams Medal for Journalistic Excellence in 2003.

Meg has taken an active leadership role in development and implementation of the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES) since 2003. In 2023–24, Meg received a Landscape Architecture Foundation Fellowship for Leadership and Innovation where she developed key themes for this book. She currently serves on the LAF Board of Directors.

"Meg Calkins has provided cutting-edge material research, specification best practices, and outlined detailing and construction strategies that will accelerate the shift to climate positive practices and sites. This book challenges readers to think beyond short-term gains within project boundaries and instead focus on long-term sustainable practices and decisions at the macro level."

Pamela Conrad, Founder and Executive Director, Climate Positive Design

"The science on the effects of carbon is clear. Calkins has given landscape architects, architects, engineers, developers, and government officials tangible tools for taking action. Now get to work and use them – there are no more excuses."

Lucinda Sanders, CEO and Partner, OLIN

"Meg Calkins continues the revolution she started with The Sustainable Sites Handbook. Here, backed by over a decade of fact-finding and scrutiny, she asks designers and engineers to be leaders in reducing the globe’s embodied carbon footprint, then provides the thinking and steps to get there. She is not asking for sacrifice in quality or aesthetics, but for persistence in expanding our environmental fluency and reach. Let’s answer the call."

Laura Solano, Partner, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Landscape Architects

"Professor Calkins' new book prepares practitioners to deliver climate positive projects through their design and material choices and leads with the necessary sufficiency-first mindset. This is a must-have comprehensive resource for practitioners to leverage their material palettes for climate positive outcomes."

Vincent Martinez, President & COO, Architecture 2030