CLARB Sustainable Design and Environmental Stewardship

Question 1

Which LEED credit category most directly rewards landscape architects for reducing potable water use in irrigation?

Accepted Answer

Water Efficiency — Outdoor Water Use Reduction

Answer

LEED's Water Efficiency category includes credits specifically for reducing or eliminating potable water used for landscape irrigation through native planting, efficient systems, or captured rainwater.

Question 2

What is the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES) primarily designed to do?

Accepted Answer

Provide a rating system for sustainable land design, construction, and maintenance of landscapes beyond buildings

Answer

SITES is a comprehensive rating system that evaluates the sustainability of landscape projects including parks, streetscapes, campuses, and other sites independent of buildings.

Question 3

Which stormwater management approach is considered a green infrastructure strategy?

Accepted Answer

Installing a bioretention cell to capture and filter runoff on-site

Answer

Bioretention cells are a core green infrastructure practice that mimic natural hydrology by infiltrating, filtering, and slowing stormwater runoff through engineered soil and vegetation.

Question 4

A heat island effect analysis is being conducted for a parking lot redesign. Which design strategy most directly reduces the urban heat island effect?

Accepted Answer

Replacing impervious asphalt with permeable pavers and adding tree canopy cover

Answer

Tree canopy shades paved surfaces to reduce surface temperatures, and permeable materials reduce heat absorption compared to conventional dark asphalt.

Question 5

What does the term 'impervious surface coverage ratio' measure on a development site?

Accepted Answer

The percentage of a site covered by materials that do not allow water infiltration into the soil

Answer

Impervious surface coverage ratio expresses the proportion of a site covered by roofs, pavement, and other surfaces that prevent stormwater infiltration, which many municipalities regulate.

CLARB - Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards Practice Test

CLARB - Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards Practice Test

CLARB Sustainable Design and Environmental Stewardship