Landscape Ordinances
Zoning Practice — April 2004
By Cynthia Bowen, FAICP
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Communities across the country are trying to create an identity — some through the enhancement of natural beauty. A la ndscape ordinance is one way to achieve this endeavor.
Traditionally, landscape provisions provided a minimum of visual enhancement and buffering for new development. But today, goals and objectives set forth in comprehensive plans allow communities to take these regulations further, and in new directions.
This issue of Zoning Practice discusses how communities create landscaping regulations and looks at five landscape options for communities to incorporate into their local ordinances.
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About the Author
Cynthia Bowen, FAICP
Cynthia Bowen, FAICP, is a Principal and Director of Planning for Rundell Ernstberger Associates (REA), with 26 years of experience. Cynthia manages complex, interdisciplinary planning and urban design projects both in the US and abroad. Cynthia’s work focuses on land use, economic development, redevelopment and revitalization, transportation, and regulation development. She works with clients, stakeholders, and community leaders to create plans that transform neighborhoods and communities physically, socially, and economically. Cynthia’s strength is building consensus, creating understandable linkages between policy, design, and regulations and other implementation mechanisms.
Cynthia has led projects in the Middle East in the countries of Libya, UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Qatar. Many of these projects were master plans focused on creating new cities and neighborhoods that were integrated, secure, and contained a mix of jobs, residential, retail, parks, schools, mosques, and gathering areas. Being a woman working in the middle east, she had to be mindful of her approach to working with foreign leaders and clients, especially in Saudi Arabia and Libya. She also had to be respectful of their cultural rules and plan for their society's values and not American's values.
Cynthia is a Past President of the American Planning Association.