Friday, December 2, 2011

Abandoned Shopping Center Reuse

Who would think to turn an abandoned 115,000 square foot shopping center in New Jersey into an indoor amusement park and event center? Well, someone did and it's called "iPlay America" and it's in Freehold, New Jersey. This new twist on a family fun center includes an indoor boardwalk-style arcade and an indoor town. Other attractions include several themed restaurants, indoor go-karts and bowling.

What I find so encouraging about this project is that the developer used an existing site and building footprint to create a completely new business. Adaptive reuse at its best! We really need to start thinking about what to do with shopping centers and big box stores as they become obsolete or move to different buildings. These buidlings have an immense amount of embodied energy in them meaning it is very inefficient and costly to demolish them, especially if we can use the space adaptively for something new.

Can you think of any other adaptive reuse examples from New Jersey?

iPlay America: http://www.iplayamerica.com/

Monday, October 31, 2011

New Jersey Snowstorm: Planning Implications

by Marley Bice, MCRP '12

The apocalyptic snowstorm that dumped around three inches of slushy snow on the Northeast region over Halloween weekend got me thinking about implications for planning, our cities, our environment. Looking out my window at 10 am on Saturday (besides feeling like I was on the set of "The Day After Tomorrow") I found myself feeling so bad for the poor trees. Deciduous trees are not adapted to withstand wet, clingy, heavy snow on their leaves. The combined excessive weight has caused thousands of downed trees across the region and may be largely to blame for millions of households being out of power more than two days later.

The Guardian reported earlier that New York City is bracing itself for the loss of at least 1000 old-growth, majestic, vital, historically-significant (OK now I'm just getting sappy) trees in Central Park alone. This storm has single-handedlly changed the landscape of one of my favorite places in one of my favorite cities. The shading, stormwater management, and carbon capture benefit of those trees will be lost forever. Will New Jersey and New York City look different from space after this storm? What percentage of the tree cover is gone? These are depressing questions to think about.

Another depressing fact is that many small municipalities (and some big municipalities) do not have the budget to handle the snow removal costs and requirements as our winter season continues to encroach on fall and spring. However, this may be a major consideration in town operating budgets as the reality of global climate change continues to unearth itself. Where will that money come from? How many people will miss work because they can't get to the office because the streets and public transit are shut down because of snow? How much more salt and sand used for ice control will end up in our aquatic ecosystems? It's time to start thinking hard...

2011 Louis Berger Group Fellows Share their Experience

Please come out Wednesday afternoon to the Special Events Forum at Bloustein to hear four of your fellow MCRP/MPP students share their experiences during the summer of 2011 as Louis Berger Group fellows working internationally on pressing planning and policy issues.

If you are interested in applying to be one of the 2012 Berger Fellows, this is the perfect chance to network and learn more about what the experience is actually like. If not, it is a great chance to revel in your classmates' exciting travels and get some FREE FOOD.

The students presenting and their project titles are:

  • David Burgy, MCRP '12 - "Transportation Planning and Infrastructure Projects" - Mumbai, India
  • Michael Cassidy, MCRP '12 - "Expansion of Mauritius Airport" - Mauritius
  • Kristin Crandall, MPP/MCRP '12 - "Airline Capacity Modeling" - Costa Rica
  • Katherine Nosker, MCRP '12 - "Growth with Equity Project" - Mindanao, Phillipines

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Plethora of Opportunities

I know we are just getting past fall semester mid-terms but yes... it is already time to think about selecting courses for next semester because registeration starts Sunday, November 6th. Thankfully, with all of the amazing-sounding offerings, this should be a pleasant task. Now is your chance to branch out and think beyond the box (i.e. core classes) and think about taking seminars and studios that pique your interest.

Seminars usually require more reading and more writing but give you the opportunity to think more critically about one specific topic that interests you. Studios are required but are also fantastic because they involve hands-on and technical work while working as a planning team and applying your expertise (or figuring out what it is). If these studios are half as exciting as their short titles make them sound they should be great. I just wish I could take more than two!

Spring 2012 Seminars in Urban Planning and Public Policy
  • Development Preservation of Large Cities
  • Art and City Design
  • Mental Health Policy
  • Public Policy Finance
  • Planning and Land Use Administration
  • Green Buildings
  • Integrated Energy Challenges and Opportunities
  • Appraisal, Analysis and Real Estate Pro-Formas
  • LEED Housing
  • Public Policy Budgeting
  • Green Economic Policies Worldwide
  • Transportation Security
  • Writing for Professionals
Spring 2012 Graduate Planning Studios
  • Safe Routes to School
  • Urban Trnsit
  • Easton Avenue Redevelopment
  • Visioning the Future Raritan Part II
  • Innovations in Community Economic Development
  • The New River Agenda
Keep in mind the course offerings may change but these highlights can get you started. Watch this link for any changes: http://policy.rutgers.edu/academics/GridTemplate.php?Year=2012&Semester=Spring&GridUNGR=graduate&type=campus&submit=Show+Grid.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Where the Sidewalk Doesn't End

by Besty Harvey, MCRP '12

The road that ran past his house led into town. Running up that hill he would pass a white clapboard congregational church. He’d recall the Christmas services there – walking with his children on all those cold Christmas Eves – and as they would enter the church he would look up at the stars and thank God. He wasn’t sure that he believed in God, but on such a night – well, he felt blessed.

There was a small coffee shop on Main Street, too. He used to liked to sit next to the window that looked out on the street full of people and correct his students’ papers or develop the next week’s curriculum. And he would slowly pad along the sidewalk by the coffee shop, wondering what the students sitting by the window thought of an aging man jogging by.

His head would tilt toward the pavement, especially as he ran up hills. He’d watch his feet and count to the rhythm. “One . . . two . . . one . . . two.” They were the same words he’d forced himself to repeat in his head as he’d struggled along the lonely, forested road that wound through Acadia National Park. That had been his first marathon. When he ran his mind would sometimes be drawn back into the cavernous darkness when he’d thought the pain could not get worse.

But then he’d remember the finish – his children cheering for him even though he had finished in the back. And he’d pick up his pace just slightly.

He would pause at an intersection. A car would stop and wave him through. People are so nice here, he’d think. He would miss that.

Maine will be nice, he’d try to reason, but running will be difficult. The sidewalks would be fewer and drivers faster in the countryside.

He would run passed the university, its red brick colonial-style buildings graced with sweeping green lawns. Students would be out playing Frisbee or leaning against a tree, reading. He might see the red-tailed hawk that lived near the library. He would miss this beauty.  But he knew that homes changed. It had to happen. The house had to be sold.

But some things wouldn’t change. Roads would still be there, open to him. Beckoning to him to run off his pain, to embrace this life.

Just past the university the sidewalk ended. The speed limit increased to 35 as it passed the agriculture school. He would cross the road so that he would face traffic.

After what seemed like no time at all, he would approach the apple orchard. When the children were little he and his wife would take their children to ride in the horse-drawn hay wagons and pick McIntoshes and Cortlands and Honey Crisps. The kids would run about, investigating wormy apples and petting goats and sheep.

He would sometimes wished he didn’t remember all of these things. But they were good times, he’d remind himself, and he was lucky. Time went on, always.

The road continued onwards; it wound continuously so he couldn’t see what was around the bend. Though he’d run this way so many times before, he liked to imagine he was exploring the route for the first time. He stayed alert to the wind’s direction, the color of the maple leaves, the make of the cars that went by.

The sidewalk came back again as he entered town. He was tired – ready for the run to end – but his mind felt clearer. His life might change, but his run would not. The roads were his.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Walking Out of the Box

by Besty Harvey, MCRP '12
I was lucky growing up. My family lived in the center of a small town, so most of our amenities were within walking distance, including the middle school and high school. If we cut through the woodland behind our house it was a fifteen minute walk; twenty, if we walked on the road.

We lived right outside the one-mile cutoff for children who were allowed to be bussed, but walking was faster. I could leave at 7:20 and get to school on time. But the bus stopped at the end of our street at 7:00. That was an unconscionable trade-off. At the end of the day, walkers were dismissed first, so if I walked quickly I could get home before some of my bus-riding classmates even left school.

“Your mom and I worried about you kids,” my dad told me years later, after I had graduated from college.

Especially me. I was the only girl.

Sometimes I walked with one of my three brothers. But our varying ages and diverse after-school activities meant that I often walked alone, particularly in high school. Track and cross-country practices could end after six, which meant in the winter I would walk home in the dark.

I never felt afraid. Many other families’ children walked to school, and a few even biked. Until they were allowed to drive, every one of the fourteen children on our street walked to school most of the time. The exception was bad weather. The spring rains that drenched New Hampshire led my brothers and I to beg our dad to drop us off at school on his way to work.

But we never asked out of fear. Of the dark, of strangers, of being abducted, of getting lost. Our parents hid theirs so that we wouldn’t have any. They wanted us to have a childhood. They wanted us to discover for ourselves how to navigate in the world, to discover the beauty and the horrors, and to make mistakes. They didn’t allow us to live in a safe box where they could monitor our every movement. We couldn’t learn that way, we couldn’t grow up to be healthy, aware adults. For a box has no roads to travel, and no way to understand why you might want to walk down one in the first place.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Appreciating an Underdog

by Betsy Harvey, MCRP '12


I for one am glad to not be taking Rutgers buses to and from class and work anymore. Last year, in the winter or the pouring rain, when I couldn’t muster the courage to bike, I boarded the bus from my stop on Douglass Campus. The digital displays saying when the next bus would arrive could be between 5 and 15 minutes from what the Rutgers website said, a real problem when class started in 20 minutes. People threw up on the bus on weekend nights. And I quickly learned that using the bus between 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm would mean that the ride would take twice as long. There were times when it would have been quicker for me to walk home. The supposed convenience factor was clearly lacking.

Buses get a bad rap. As the Rutgers bus system often proves, they get you where you want to go, but not necessarily when they say they will or when you need to be there, and certainly not in style. I avoid them if I can afford to. And yet they are vital to many people’s ability to get to work or to the store or to visit friends. For those who cannot afford a car - or who choose not to have one - buses provide essential mobility. As I wrote in an earlier post, mobility is vital to a health economy. It is well worth the investment.

So while I am pleased to be able to walk the ten minutes to school this year instead of taking a half-hour to wait for and ride the bus, I won’t underestimate the importance of affordable bus service. Without it, there would be a serious drain on our already ailing economy and set struggling families back further.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Reclaim Your City... One Parking Space at a Time

by Marley Bice, MCRP '12

Park(ing) Day is Friday September 16th year. What started with a 2-hour demonstration in San Francisco in 2005 has grown into an International movement with 850 parks in 30 countries in 2010. The idea is to take over a metered parking space for a day and turn it into a public park showing how much change can come out of a small area of land and also demonstrate that our streets and parking spaces can be redesigned to be more efficient, safe and green.

Although this doesn't immediately scream "green stormwater management" since we are not proposing to rip out the concrete and asphalt, we are making a statement about the way people interact in public spaces and streets and how green elements can make those interactions and spaces safer and more enjoyable. In my opinion, stormwater management starts with creating a connection to public open space and realizing that decreaseing impervious area creates more opportunities for communities to use excess space for beneficial uses. What is the point of putting a stormwater street tree trench or a rain garden where no one is going to see it?

Some cities are starting to recognize the community development and environmental benefits of parklets, often citing the stormwater benefits with the power of the community force behind this movement for safer streets and more public open space. Collaborating with local artists and architects also makes these parklets icons of public art and can help revitalize a neighborhood. Check out these examples:

Philadelphia's First Parklet: http://planphilly.com/philly-first-university-city-gets-parklet
San Francisoco's Pavement to Parks Program: http://sfpavementtoparks.sfplanning.org/index.htm



This year, Bloustein students led by RAPPS and Walk Bloustein/Bike Bloustein are creating a parklet in New Brunswick. To get involved in this world-wide urban revitalization movement, come to an interest meeting in the Bloustein Student Lounge Wednesday September 7th at 4 pm.

Friday, September 2, 2011

An Impromptu Public Space

by Betsy Harvey, MCRP '12

Welcome back Bloustein! For those of you who are reading this blog for the first time, I write regular Friday posts about anything and everything related to streets. As a transportation planner, I am interested in their use beyond just shuttling cars back and forth. Streets play important social and economic roles as well, and they are powerful symbols both in our imaginations and in history.

Like most of New Jersey, New Brunswick does not want for a lack of roads. However, when something like a hurricane puts many of them out of service, it may seem like we could do with more. The day or two following Hurricane Irene last weekend, Route 18 was closed from flooding, so drivers diverted to George Street/Ryders Lane, clogging it beyond its normal capacity. A half-hour drive between Princeton and New Brunswick became two hours.

However, something interesting happened on Route 18. On Sunday, as the Raritan River crested over the highway across from the Hyatt Hotel, it was turned into something of a public space. People, for once, had real access to the river. A man (though rather foolishly) waded out a few dozen yards to go fishing. People biked up and down the road. A young man brought out his boom box, playing easy jazz. Groups of friends wandered around, hanging out and talking as they took pictures of the phenomenon, knowing this would most likely never again happen. Irene exacted terrible economic and human costs, to be sure. But the experience on Route 18 shows how much people crave public spaces where they can socialize outdoors, and will take advantage of even a flooded highway.


Route 18 in New Brunswick after last Sunday's Hurricane Irene (Photos by the author)

 

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Green TV and the Power of Irene

by Marley Bice, MCRP '12

I recently discovered that the Philadelphia Water Department has partnered with Green Treks Network to make a series of amazing mini-documentaries on their innovative green stormwater management program, Green City, Clean Waters. One of the things I love about green stormwater infrastructure is that it is so pretty to look at. It really is easy... and beautiful... being green.


Green City, Clean Waters Promo from GreenTreks Network on Vimeo.

Of course any kind of stormwater infrastructure can't prevent all flooding and runoff. Hurricane Irene dropped eight inches of rain on New Jersey last weekend causing the low-lying regions around the Raritan River to flood badly causing murky water to block one of the state's busiest east-west connectors (Route 18). These pictures capture some of the damage.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Infrastructure and the American Dream

by Betsy Harvey, MCRP '12
This is my last entry before school starts up again at Bloustein. As my life becomes increasingly focused on school, my posts will be oriented toward school happenings and issues that are relevant to students here. But before I turn this space over to the interests of Bloustein for the next year, I want to sum up, in one word, why transportation is so important: accessibility. People have to be able to get to their jobs. All the economic stimulus and tax incentives in the world will not matter if people cannot reach them. Low income neighborhoods without transit access to the rest of the city . . . blue-collar jobs in the exurbs without bus service . . . basic amenities that sprawl over miles of pavement connected by roads without sidewalks . . . these situations are too commonplace, and are damaging to the economy. Without easily accessible, affordable public transportation and roads that are safe for biking and walking, those who most need cheap access to work will never get it.

This is why investment in transportation infrastructure is so vital to the economy. A job that cannot be reached by transit or by foot is no job for someone without a car. This is a problem that many of us students will face. I know I will. Luckily, we live in the New York metropolitan area, where, like so much of the east coast, public transit options abound. Yet for many people this is not the case, and even in transit-rich New Jersey not every town is served by public transportation that is timely and affordable. Bus and rail, therefore, must be expanded, not cut. This is not just about being green or getting rid of cars – this is a jobs issue. This is a vital part of getting the American economy back on track. Building transportation infrastructure – everything, from bike lanes to BRT to trolleys to sidewalks and, yes, even roads – employs people for the short run, employs people long-term, gives them skills, shortens delivery times for businesses, and improves access for everyone. If job creation doesn’t convince our leaders that transportation investment must be a priority, I’m not sure that anything can.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

My Ten Favorite SMPs

by Marley Bice, MCRP '12

SMP = Stormwater Management Practice
noun (ess-emm-pee) meaning any man-made structure that is designed or constructed to convey, store or otherwise control stormwater runoff, quality, rate or quantity

Now how many of those can there be? A lot! But I have ten favorite ones and here's why:
  1. GREEN ROOFS: because they create public space, wildlife habitat, decrease HVAC costs, extend the life of the roof and manage stormwater (why not!?)
  2. PERMEABLE PAVERS: because they are versatile and attractive
  3. SWALES: because there are so many applications that bring stormwater conveyance to the surface and increase public awareness of stormwater management issues
  4. RAINFALL CAPTURE AND REUSE features can also be used to create sustainable water features
  5. FLOW-THROUGH PLANTERS: because there are so many different options and they are applicable to urban, space-constrained sites
  6. BERMS AND RETENTIVE GRADING: because this techniques uses attractive landscaping and topography to manage stormwater and decrease erosion
  7. FILTER STRIPS: because they offer pretreatment benefits without taking up much space
  8. BUMPOUTS: because they can also calm traffic and increase pedestrian safety
  9. STREET EDGE ALTERNATIVES such as curbless streets and bioretention swales are a great way to beautify residential neighborhoods
  10. PAVEMENT DISCONNECT: because it increases infiltration on-site and creates opportunities for use of salvaged materials in the landscaping

Friday, August 19, 2011

Many Roads to Travel

by Betsy Harvey, MCRP '12

As some of you may know, my undergraduate degree was in English, and I like to deviate at times from the concrete realm of planning toward that of the rather esoteric. This week I’m going to look at how streets are portrayed in verse. Let’s start with a poem with which we’re all familiar, Robert Frost’s “A Road not Taken.” It contains one of the dominant themes in literature about roads: that they present opportunity and freedom. As Frost’s famous lines go:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

To extend the metaphor into 21st century New Jersey, what if the two roads that Frost’s character must choose between are route 95 and a quieter back road? As a pedestrian, he clearly would have to avoid the highway. He would only realistically have only one choice. It may seem like a silly metaphor, but it is representative of our transportation system. Our travel choices are limited mostly to cars because that is the type of road we design. By building roads that realistically only allow cars we eliminate choice – to bike or walk or ride a scooter – and therefore to see something new, to view the world from a different perspective, to have an adventure.  Driving is but one way to view our world. It looks very different on foot, and we limit the imagination and the excitement in our lives if the car is our only mirror.

Another theme is the danger and loneliness of roads. Here’s the last stanza of 19th century American poet Will Wallace Harney’s poem “The Stab”:

But the moon came out so broad and good,
The barn-fowl woke and crowed;
Then roughed his feathers in drowsy mood,
And the brown owl called to his mate in the wood,
That a dead man lay on the road.

Travel has always had an element of fear. Walking or biking or driving down a road, especially one with which you are not familiar, is to travel into the unknown. It’s what makes travel so exciting, and yet sometimes frightening.

In her poem “Uphill,” British poet Christina Rossetti (also writing in the 19th century) uses a question and answer conversation between two characters to explore this fear. “Does the road wind uphill all the way?” the questioner asks. “Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?” The companion does his or her best to reassure the questioner that all will be well at the end of the day’s journey.

We look down a road, and we see fear, excitement, opportunity, exhaustion. Fear that we’ll run out of gas before the next gas station, or perhaps that the riots that are rocking our once peaceful city will turn deadly. And excitement – excitement at the opportunity to meet new people, or start a peaceful revolution, or to discover something beautiful and unexpected.

That is one of the wonders of roads – their metaphoric power yanks us awake, and asks us to look at our lives and our world differently. To imagine paralyzing fear, regime-changing revolutions, the thrill of writing a new page in our lives. If we restrict the real road to a place built only to maximize car use, the diversity of our experiences are less and our imaginations diminished – for the diversity that characterizes excitement and opportunity decreases substantially. To create – a poem, a new government, a transportation plan – we need to understand, and we need to imagine, that diversity of lives and ideas and experiences beyond our own. As these and so many other poets demonstrate, we have to be able to choose to take that step down the road less traveled – not only in our minds, but with our feet, as they surely did.

All poems courtesy of http://www.bartleby.com/.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Freedom Takes to the Streets

 by Betsy Harvey, MCRP '12
Out of curiosity, yesterday I searched online for the word “streets” in Google’s news search engine. I was surprised that most of the first few pages were dominated by some sort of protest taking place, from the riots in England to protests in Chile and Syria. But I suppose it makes sense. Streets, it seems, have always been the place to stage protests. It’s the one public space that is nearly impossible to control, and you’re guaranteed that you will be seen. It’s important that streets remain open for protests as protests are vital to a healthy democracy. Yes, there will be some that are inevitably senseless and violent like those in England right now, but others will be powerful, decisive moments in a country’s history, such as the Egyptian uprising this past spring. Streets are not only for transportation: they are a country’s meeting place, an arena for the people’s voice to be heard.
The question, of course, is whether or not there is a point at which protests should be restricted or abolished altogether. Should a permit be required, which might prevent all but largest protests from taking place? Are there opinions that one should not be allowed to promote in public? These are broader free speech questions that must always be questioned in a democracy. The street can be an outlet for such a debate, a potent place for all peoples to exercise their right to free speech.
A crowd gathering in London, before clashing with the police. Courtesy of www.dailymail.co.uk

Protesters in Tahrir Square during the Egyptian uprising in 2011. Courtesy of www.guardian.co.uk

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Bird's Eye View Critique: Houston's Stormwater Sewer System

by Marley Bice, MCRP '12

I've written about combined sewer systems in America's older cities but what about newer cities that were built around separate sewer systems? Are they any better? I've chosen to look at Houston, Texas. Houston was a historic city that experienced significant growth in the 20th century and is now the fourth largest city in the United States. Houston's severe flooding problem is not a huge suprise:

(1) the city is built on a flood plain
(2) the city's landscpae is overwhelmingly short grasses in compact soils
(3) the city chose to increase impervious surfaces and focus on conveyand as stormwater management techniques

I'm not saying I have a solution (or that green stormwater infrastrucutre would solve all of Houston's drainage and flooding problems - undoubtedly not) or that I would have made better decisions myself given knowledge at the time these systems were considered. I'm just saying... take a look at these images from Bing Maps and tell me what you would recommend.

When formulating your recommendations, there are many constraints to consider:

(1) Houston needs to preserve the neighborhoods that have developed around these bayous, so some sort of controlled water's edge needs to be maintained
(2) Consider improving aesthetics and safety around the bayous
(3) Consider how to capture and treat more of the runoff before it reaches the bayous





My major questions: Why was it necessary to purposefully make your catch basin entirely impervious? Why was it necessary to drain that forested area? Why was it necessary to funnel that natural stream into the cement bayou?

Friday, August 5, 2011

What's the Best Downtown Highway? The One That Isn’t There

by Betsy Harvey, MCRP '12


Highways are a thing of the past.




Or, at least those that run through cities’ downtowns. From Cleveland to New Haven to San Francisco, cities are tearing out the highways built a half a decade ago to uncover land that is far more valuable as real estate than as highway.


And it’s not just valuable to the extent to which it will contain condos or shopping centers. Since highways help cause congestion, eliminating highways can help alleviate it. The more roads that are built, the more people will use them, i.e. “if you build it they will come,” also called induced travel demand. Drivers adapt their transportation habits when a road is not there by not driving. Likewise, when a road is built, they will adapt by using it.


There is a definite paradigm shift going on. Instead of the Federal Department of Transportation paying for highways to slice through cities, they are paying to have them removed. People want their waterfronts back. They want to be able to walk between neighborhoods. They want to recover the economic benefits of the land that is paved with asphalt. If you look at the pictures below, you can see that some highways have been replaced with public space. In cities people don’t want to be isolated. I’ve written about how streets can, and often should, be social spaces. But sometimes a roadless social space is more valuable than a road. In the case of downtown highways, it nearly always is.


(All images courtesy of www.infrastructurist.com)


Portland, Oregon: Harbor Drive After

Portland, Oregon: Harbor Drive Before



San Francisco: Embarcadero Freeway Before

San Francisco: Embarcadero Freeway After


Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Obsessed: The High Line Park

by Marley Bice, MCRP '12

My newest obsession... The High Line Park in New York City. The site's sustainable design paired with its spectacular position - four stories off the ground and within an arm's reach of historic and modern buidlings alike - make it one of the most unique urban spaces I have seen yet in my travels. It is just too bad that they do not [currently] allow dogs on the High Line. Because, you know what goes best paired with adaptive reuse, infill development, industrial ecology and urban stormwater management... dogs. But my obsession with dogs is what my other blog is about, so back to stormwater.

The boardwalk planks (in some sections wood, in others cement) seemlessly disappear into the vegetated sections, emulating both the flow of stormwater runoff on the site and the former linear tracks (some of which can still be found integrated into the landscape).

Can't catch all of the water coming out of the water fountain? That's OK. These designers thought of everything. The excess fountain water bypasses any type of hidden drain and simply trickles back into the ground and feeds the adjacent vegetation.

I have been slowly leading up to the unveiling of the fact that stormwater management can be such a seamless and creative component of any new urban development [or redevelopment]. When one thinks in terms of - not what the fifty-year code tells you is standard - but in terms of what Mother Nature would do - you can create spectacular green spaces that manage stormwater, revitalize communities and provide enriching public gathering spaces.

The High Line Park is a breath-taking example of how stretching your imagination and designing holisticly with preservation (rather than destruction) as your starting point can result in so many other benefits to the community as a whole. Coined "the world's longest green roof;" at its heart, the High Line essentially functions as a green roof. "The High Line landscape functions essentially like a green roof; porous pathways contain open joints, so water can drain between planks and water adjacent planting beds, cutting down on the amount of storm-water than runs off the site into the sewer system." (High Line Park FAQs)

In just twelve years since the first community group to save and rehabilitate the High Line was established, a beautiful, sustainable gem of a park has been created and (as Mayor Bloomberg declared just before Section 2 opened) "preserving the High Line as a public park revitalized a swath of the city and generated $2 billion in private investment surrounding the park." (New York Times) Just one little green roof can do all that? I'm not saying the stormwater management aspects of the High Line are the only reason it has flourished and jumpstarted such immense reinvestment in the surrounding district -but it hasn't hurt either. Because the High Line was so meticulously designed to be sustainable (especially in terms of water use), making it more affordable to operate, it is guaranteed to be around for years and years to come.

What's next? Similar viaduct parks in St. Louis, Philadelphia, Jersey City, Chicago, and Rotterdam? Any thing seems possible with a model like this to follow!

Saturday, July 30, 2011

On Being Social

by Betsy Harvey, MCRP '12

As I read about the new idea of social space – new in the sense that it only recently has been named – I found myself considering what “space” actually is. The most pertinent Merriam-Webster Dictionary online definition is, “a limited extent in one, two or three dimensions.” Quite straight forward. Obviously we’re talking about three dimensions, but the key here is “limited.” Space has bounds. Eric Britton, the editor of the website World Streets points out that we typically only refer to space as either public or private, and they clearly have boundaries. Private property does not overlap with public property, and vice versa. But by only seeing space as private or public, we only understand it in terms of property rights, and that limits its capacity. Because there is a limited amount of space, it must be used expansively.
By expansive I mean making it available to the broadest number of people reasonably possible. Separating uses, as is so often done – including private and public – encourages car use and discourages people from using the space fully, by, for example, walking, window shopping, reading, talking, eating and biking. Instead of isolating all of these uses, it is much more efficient to create space, such as on streets or sidewalks, that enables them to occur. But it isn’t just for efficiency. People are social. We enjoy, for the most part, being outside, near others.
This has great transformative power for street design. If we think of streets – including all the rights-of-ways – as social space, we can make so much more vibrant and inclusive. The typical public space of the road that only shuttles cars back and forth suddenly becomes a social space with benches for resting and talking, maybe a small park, and a continuous area for spontaneous interactions and observations that keep us attuned to and interested in the world around us.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

What Lies Beneath

by Marley Bice, MCRP '12
In light of the recent fire at New York City’s North River Sewage Treatment Plant which caused plant operations to cease for almost 48 hours and 360 million gallons of untreated wastewater to flow into the Hudson River, I hope people are starting to think more critically about what happens when it rains on the local Wal-Mart parking lot or what happens when you flush your toilet. In combined sewer system cities across the country, including New York City and Philadelphia, that rain water and waste water are funneled into the same pipe. In dry weather, the combined waters flow directly to the local water pollution control plant and all we have to worry about his how well that plant can actually clean that water and how much electricity it takes to run the plant. However, in wet weather (or when a fire outbreak causes plant operations to cease) this toxic mixture cannot be contained by the combined sewer system and the excess is piped directly into the local water body.
The alternative that cities that have developed more recently have implemented is a separate sewer system. In this system the stormwater and the wastewater are piped into separate systems so that sewage is always sent to the water pollution control plant and stormwater is always sent straight to the river. Unfortunately, it is a lose-lose situation. In dry weather, the combined system is better because it ensures that both forms of polluted water are treated. However, on average throughout the year, a separate sewer system is better because it prevents the most obnoxious and toxic forms of waste to always be treated.
In my opinion any sewer system of grey infrastructure needs to be combined with innovative green stormwater infrastructure that minimizes the amount of rain water that is sent to the sewer system. With our current technologies and knowledge, we are able to treat a large amount of stormwater with infiltration systems and strategic vegetation such as green roofs and rain gardens. Hopefully some day we will have similar sustainable methods of treating our sewage wastewater as well.
What can we do today? Decrease surface parking lots, increase tree canopy, create legislation and crediting systems to encourage private sector implementation of rainwater harvesting and green roofs, and teach our kids to respect the life-sustaining water cycle.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

The State of Solar Power in New Jersey

by Jedediah Drolet, MCRP '11

In recent years solar development has become increasingly popular in New Jersey.  Probably the most visible manifestation of this is the placement of small solar panels on utility poles throughout the area served by PSE&G, the largest utility in the state, although rooftop solar panels on residential and commercial buildings are also becoming quite noticeable.  This is all due to aggressive policy incentives by the state, starting about ten years ago, to encourage solar.  Initially these consisted of rebates, but recently the state shifted away from providing money directly and now relies on a system of Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SRECs), which are tradable credits that utilities can use to meet their requirements under the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), which mandates a certain percentage of electricity generation in the state has to come from renewable sources each year, with a specified level of that specifically from solar.  SRECs are generated by all solar installations registered with the state and traded freely, which provides a major incentive for the development of solar.  At current SREC prices, the income stream from SRECs vastly outweighs the income stream from the electricity generated by solar installations.


As a result of these incentives, solar development has been booming, and New Jersey now has more installed solar capacity than any state except California.  Due to its much smaller land area, however, the amount of installed capacity per square mile is the highest by far of any state.  As of April 29, New Jersey had 9,032 solar projects with a total capacity of 321 megawatts.  For comparison, a typical coal plant is 500 megawatts, and the Hope Creek Nuclear Plant has a capacity of 1,268 megawatts.  Solar is thus still a very small proportion of the overall electricity generation in the state, but it has been growing rapidly.  This is a concern for land-use planning, because solar can be relatively land-intensive compared to other electricity generation options, and New Jersey has relatively little remaining space compared to many other states.  During this past spring semester, I worked on a project as an intern for New Jersey Future to evaluate the state of solar development and its implications for land use (the results are summarized on their website here).  What I found was that despite a lot of recent concern over some high-profile projects in South Jersey which would use a lot of land for utility-scale solar generation, the vast majority of solar development so far has been in the form of small rooftop systems that use no additional land and are quite compatible with Smart Growth principles.  As of March 31, 91% of installed systems with available data were mounted on rooftops, and only 5% were ground-mounted.  Since ground-mounted installations tend to be larger, they account for a larger proportion of total capacity (15%), but rooftopo systems still account for 73% of installed capacity.  The main concern going forward will be to ensure that this pattern continues; there are plenty of rooftops left, and no pressing need at this point to turn to large, ground-mounted systems that use up precious land to meet the state’s goals for solar, ambitious though they are.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Complete Streets Revisioned

by Betsy Harvey, MCRP '12

Complete streets. Like many planning terms – “smart growth,” “sense of place,” “livable community,” to name a few – it is a vague term, conjuring up different images for each of us. What does it mean to have a complete street? Taking the bus out of Manhattan toward Amherst, Massachusetts – the epitome of a small New England town – it occurs to me that a complete street in New York must be different from a complete street in a town like Amherst. A bike taxi squeaks by our bus, just missing the parked car on the curb. You would never see one in Amherst, but in New York, if you want a truly complete street you had better plan for them. And for horse-drawn carriages.
Not only are the transportation needs different, but the dissimilar cultures affect what can be built on streets. New Yorkers are impatient drivers; Amherst drivers are not. What street changes will New Yorkers tolerate? As evidenced from the fierce reaction by some against the Bloomberg administration’s implementation of new bike and pedestrian facilities (which are really not drastic even if they are a huge step forward for New York), not much. In Amherst, however, you can get away with a lot more. A vocal bike culture already exists, and so it’s not as hard to build in Amherst, for example, the bike lanes that have been built with a fight in New York.

Source: nytimes.com
If the Federal Complete Streets Act passes, this will be one of the biggest hurdles it will face. How do you implement a policy this vague, that will mean many different things to different people? Can it be consistently implemented, so that when you bike or walk or take transit in different cities you can expect similar facilities? These are some problems, but the act offers great promise: that, when it comes to federally-funded streets, at least, all Americans will be treated equally.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Stormwater Tuesdays: Rainwater as Education

by Marley Bice, MCRP '12

Back to describing why stormwater is so fascinating and important. This week I want to gush about how bringing stormwater to the surface (or just keeping it there where it fell) and creating attractive features with the water can help educate us (and the next generation) about the natural water cycle and how manage the urban water cycle. Let’s face it our urban development pattern has caused a physical (and therefore mental) disconnection from our natural water cycle. Do you remember when you first learned about the water cycle? Were you surprised (especially if you lived in the city) to find out that that rain that fell from the sky is supposed to replenish your drinking water and oceans?
The fact of the matter is we have the same amount of water on Earth than we always have but less and less of it is clean enough to support life on our planet. We have diverted and polluted the water we were given so immensely that the only answer is to allow the natural processes of phytoremediation and photosynthesis to try to reduce and reverse the damage that has commenced.
Well, wouldn’t it be great if our kids could grow up in efficiently developed towns and cities and still develop a true understanding and connection to water. Creating green stormwater infrastructure that also serves as an educational tool to illustrate the water cycle at our scale can help achieve this. Check out these examples: 
The Dane County Office of Lakes and Watersheds has developed a great curriculum for 6th graders that is best when implemented with the school’s implementation of a stormwater management system such as rainwater harvesting or a rain garden. Let the kids learn about the problem and then implement part of the solution. http://www.danewaters.com/pdf/stormWaterCurriculum.pdf

When feasible, it is great to combine rainwater harvesting with a creative viaduct feature to maximize the time that the water cycle is visible to passers-by like this great rain garden and cistern at Syme Hall at North Carolina State University. http://shiftncsu.wordpress.com/2010/09/02/from-gene-bressler-open-thank-you-letter-to-syme-raingarden-partcipants/

It could be as easy as including interpretive signage and ensuring public access to the site. But Arlington, Virginia went above and beyond with their Children’s Rain Garden at Powhatan Springs Park. http://www.arlingtonva.us/departments/ParksRecreation/scripts/planning/powhatan/ParksRecreationScripts
PowhatanRainGarden.aspx

Blogging About Planning... It's The Cool Thing To Do

by Marley Bice, MCRP '12

Today I discovered the APA is a fan of blogging as well. Of course, at first glance my favorite is their Sustaining Places blog all about environmental planning, sustainability, renewable energy, coastal management, even complete streets. If you're like me, and you are overwhelmed by all of the information and resources on the APA website; check out one of their five blogs for a snap shot of the most innovative and up-to-date info related to your concentration or interests.

Policy News for Planners: http://blogs.planning.org/policy/
Kids' Planning Toolbox: http://blogs.planning.org/kids/ (brand new this month!!)
2010 Census and Planners: http://blogs.planning.org/census/

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Transportation Fridays: Three Ideas to Change Transportation Planning

by Betsy Harvey, MCRP '12

What emerging ideas and trends of today will change the course of transportation planning for tomorrow? This week I want to touch on three new policies and ideas that I think will do so, and in the next three weeks, I will dedicate a post to each. While they are still in their infancy, I think they have big implications for the future of transportation, and cities in general. No longer, it seems, are activists the only ones pushing for safer, more inclusive roads; policy-makers are also moving toward viewing streets as public spaces for all users. This doesn’t cover all of them, of course, so what else do you think will change planning?
1.       On May 5 and May 24, the House and the Senate, respectively, introduced the Safe and Complete Streets Act of 2011. If passed, the act would require all federally funded transportation projects include proper facilities for all road users, including bicyclists, pedestrians, children, the elderly and transit users. They are currently being reviewed by subcommittees. The law would not only make streets more accessible safer as well; in the last ten years, 67% of pedestrian deaths occurred on federal roads.
2.       On March 5, the Christian Science Monitor reported that New Haven, Connecticut is tearing out the highway that has sliced through the heart of the city for decades. Other cities are taking out their highways as well, including Providence, Road Island and Baltimore, the latter of which is being replaced by parking and a light-rail station. Razing highways will not alone revitalize a depressed neighborhood, so it will be interesting to see the consequences for the affected neighborhoods.
3.       We’re familiar with private and public space . . . but what about social space? It’s a new way to look at streets: as social space, the theme of the recent 5th Annual Congress of Cities for Mobility that took place on July 3-5 in Stuttgart, Germany. How can imagining streets as social space change the way we build and use them?

What do you think are the policies and ideas that will shape planning in the future?

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Stormwater Tuesdays: You Design It!

by Marley Bice, MCRP '12

I have so much more I could tell you about why we need to manage stormwawter sustainably (rainwater as art... rainwater as an educational opportunity... rainwater as an important resource...) but I stumbled on a great case study of green stormwater infrastructure so I am going to dive right into the first case study for this series.

MAPLEWOOD, MINNESOTA

Maplewood is a small town of 38,000 with a big passion for rain gardens; so much so that they have established a program to implement as many rain gardens as possible whenever there is a city street reconstruction project. Each year the City comes up with about ten new rain garden designs that land owners adjacent to the streets projects can select from. The designs are all different sizes and shapes and color combinations... even great names like "Butterfly and Friends Garden" or "Cool Whites and Jazz Brights Garden." And if that isn't enough to prove that they must be doing something right; just look at the numbers. Maplewood now has over 620 rain gardens with 60 of those on city-owned property.


What has got great color, a great name and great benefits for stormwater management? The Sunny Border Garden. http://mn-maplewood.civicplus.com/DocumentView.aspx?DID=218

YOU DESIGN IT... THEY BUILD IT... YOU MAINTAIN IT...

How much maintenance is required for a rain garden you may ask... especially for a rain garden that is meant to treat road runoff? Rain gardens are designed specifically for your climate zone and water-tolerant plants are placed in the center and upland plants along the permiter of the rain garden. Because the plants are selected for your climate zone's temperature and rainwater averages, once your rain garden is established it won't even need to be watered most of the time. On that note, it is important to remember that rain gardens are designed to infiltratie or evaporate all of the rainwater collected within 24 hours so that mosquitoes are never a problem.

One major contaminant that will end up in your rain garden is fine sediments from the road surface. Gravel and large rocks are often placed at the outfall or entrance to the rain garden to capture the fine sediment in one place where it can be easily cleaned out. Another common contaminant, especially in the winter, is salt. Therefore, salt-resistant plants are identified and selected for rain gardens in areas where salt is a common pollutant in street runoff.

Other property owners are concerned that directing road runoff into a vegetated depression on their property is wrong because the contaminants from the road will hurt their plants. But no need to worry. The whole idea is to slow down the runoff and treat the runoff through the natural phytoremediation (using plants to clean up soil or water) benefits of vegetation and soil. You definitely shouldn't grow food in your rain garden but if designed correctly the plants in your rain garden will be able to withstand the runoff volumes and mild contaminants.

This diagram explains how the soil filters and breaks down the pollutants from street runoff. http://www.ci.maplewood.mn.us/DocumentView.aspx?DID=246
Virginia Tech is in the midst of a study evaluating how well woody plants can be used for phytoremediation of stormwater runoff: http://www.arec.vaes.vt.edu/hampton-roads/research/horticulture/index.html

Colorado State is looking more specifically at aquatic vegetation species that can effectively phytoremediate urban stormwater runoff in constructed wetlands: http://rydberg.biology.colostate.edu/Phytoremediation/2003/Knuth/home.htm

Kentucky City has a great online database of plants where characteristics such as "deer tolerant" and "drought defiant" can be selected to narrow down the best plants for your rain garden: http://www.rainkc.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/plants.search/index.htm