Pervious land, storm water flooding, soft infrastructure, citizen science
~ Nina Lehrecke
I’ve created a mockup for an online public database which would allow New Yorkers to map pervious plots and measure soil absorption capabilities of their green spaces. This data collection could help better understand storm water runoff mitigation.
With future climate change trends in New York City pointing to more rainfall at a time paired with more powerful storms, our already maxed out stormwater system will surely fail. Hard infrastructural solutions (like expanding the pipe system), while necessary, are only one part to the whole. It is important to understand how “soft” infrastructure as well as social infrastructure can help mitigate stormwater runoff. Whether it be a green-roof, small patio or public park, every square inch of pervious land helps to create a more absorbent and resilient city. Data can show us how effective a given tool is, and so this collective mapping project both acts as an educational tool for city dwellers, and an interactive database for understanding how urban ecology might react to future climate impacts. The social media aspect of the website would allow for individuals to share information about horticulture and create a community around stewardship.
As a case study, I chose to map out the NYU Native Woodland Garden in Schwartz Plaza. To provide visualization for the websites interactive layout, I sourced various GIS maps from NYC Open Data. The mock-up website is also heavily inspired by the Mannahatta Project, and also uses their rendering of Manhattan’s landscape pre-colonization.
Bio – Nina Lehrecke
Nina Lehrecke is a senior at the New York University Gallatin School, studying Infrastructural Ecologies and design solutions that integrate social ecology and “natural” ecological systems. For her, a holistic approach to future design questions identifies the socio-political aspects of environmental engineering. She hopes to further explore resiliency within the field of landscape architecture.