The Land Design Institute (LDI) seeks to demonstrate sustainable decisions on two levels: the virtual, and the physical. At the virtual level, it is currently engaged in research to build its electronic information clearinghouse capabilities to connect people to regional land based solutions and sustainability through effective demonstration communicated electronically (CD, Internet). The LDI is also developing its distribution network for electronic demonstration by building regional, state, national and international partnerships, and with these partners, developing proposals for electronic demonstration.
On the physical, hands-on demonstration level, the LDI is developing guidelines for, and seeking funding to create, a physical demonstration facility, the LDI Landlab. LDI faculty are integrating LDI-LandLab planning with University planning to build a Field Station Environmental Education Center (FSEEC). The integrated FSEEC-LandLab project includes program development for the LDI LandLab’s first phase of green technology demonstration projects. It includes several proposals for specific green technology demonstration projects. The LDI is also pursuing funding for the construction of a field site workstation as a test module for the integrated FSEEC-LandLab. This proposal is to build the workstation as an open-building (designed to be used on one field site and, in the future, disassembled at reassembled at other field sites). The proposal includes design of the workstation and its support systems as an integrated water-wastewater-energy-landscape system. This system seeks to balance site resources through resource-harvesting and waste-conversion.