FLAD Learning Session

The Facilitated Landscape Design Process (FLAD) provides a way to look at the landscape as an ecosystem. It is a way to see the interactions between living and non-living components and understand relationships to look at whole landscape.

The FLAD design process was created in 1992 by Diaz (ecologist) and Apostle (landscape architect). The goal of this work is to create or maintain resilient landscapes, which can be defined as the ability of an ecosystem to maintain its elements, flows and functions in the face of disturbance.

There are 8 steps to the FLAD process with two logical stopping points where the District interdisciplinary team (IDT) and Rigdon Collaboration Committee (RCC) will join together to discuss options:

Landscape elements and flows
Landscape objectives or target landscapes

This process will help identify where target patterns belong on the landscape based on the current landscape and its capacity. Understanding existing landscape patterns and desired targets helps inform the types of projects that are needed to create resilient landscapes.

Future Learning Sessions - FLAD Step 7 - Landscape Pattern

Objectives: Develop statements that describe the “target” landscape pattern (kinds, shapes, sizes, arrangement of landscape structures) in different parts of the planning area, using information from the analysis steps and local resource objectives specific to the analysis area.