The Hampton Roads region of southeast Virginia is largely defined by its abundant water resources. These water resources are also a source of unique issues for the region. Specifically, water quality challenges related to the Chesapeake Bay and recurrent flooding are the major concerns. Green infrastructure (GI) has emerged in recent years as an alternative to traditional stormwater conveyance and detention focused systems. GI practices focus on integrating infiltration, evapotranspiration, and other components of the water cycle into more conventional stormwater management systems. These systems provide several positive benefits, including local water quality and quantity control, community revitalization, and various public health benefits. In addition, GI implementation has seen strong levels of support from the Cooperative Extension System, with Extension faculty and staff around the U.S. supporting local municipalities through GI research, promotion, and program development. Despite widespread interest, GI has been slow to be adopted due to various barriers to its implementation. This study sought to identify the major barriers to the implementation of GI practices in Hampton Roads by conducting a needs assessment. Municipal stormwater staff were invited to participate in an online survey aimed at identifying the most significant barriers in the region. At the same time, local staff with Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) were interviewed to explore their potential to become involved in promoting GI adoption in Hampton Roads. Survey respondents and interview participants found common ground in identifying costs, funding, and maintenance issues as the most significant barriers to GI implementation in Hampton Roads. In addition, VCE staff were found to be well suited to support widespread GI adoption in the region, having familiarity with the GI concept and access to unique resources in the form of knowledgeable Master Gardener volunteers and connections to Virginia Tech. Recommendations for VCE involvement in promoting GI in Hampton Roads include conducting cost studies, developing and hosting maintenance training programs, and taking advantage of partnerships to identify and obtain funding from diverse sources. By focusing on these widely acknowledged challenges at the regional scale, VCE can support GI implementation throughout all of Hampton Roads. / Master of Science / Hampton Roads is a region with a history and economy tied to its local waters. Today, the region is facing significant challenges related to these waters, including frequent flooding impacts on residents and pollution control needs for the nearby Chesapeake Bay. Green infrastructure (GI), a relatively new approach to managing water in cities, could help local governments address these challenges. Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE), an organization formed through a partnership between federal and local governments and land grant universities in Virginia, seeks to meet community needs through community outreach and educational programs. As a community-centered organization with a history of advancing environmental education, VCE may also be an important partner for municipalities in Hampton Roads interested in adopting GI practices. To identify the barriers to GI in Hampton Roads and the potential role of VCE in addressing them, a needs assessment of municipalities in the region with stormwater permits was conducted. Based collected documents, surveys of municipal staff, and interviews with VCE personnel, three major barriers to GI adoption were identified. Permitted municipalities in Hampton Roads are uncertain of GI costs, have limited funds to support GI practices, and lack the knowledge and resources needed to maintain GI practices over time. VCE can help municipalities address these challenges using its many resources. Through its connection to Virginia Tech and Virginia State University, VCE can help in developing cost research studies for Hampton Roads. As an educational organization, VCE can also help municipalities win funding for GI projects that they would otherwise not have access to. Finally, local Virginia Tech faculty at the Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Extension Center and experienced Master Gardener volunteers can work to develop GI maintenance training resources for maintenance staff throughout the region. With its strong background, expert knowledge, and existing connections in the region, VCE can play an important role in addressing the GI adoption challenges in Hampton Roads.

The inner-ring suburbs of major metropolitan areas such as Washington, DC are either being redeveloped already or are poised to be redeveloped over the next several decades. The engineered 'gray' infrastructure networks in these areas, largely put in place between 100 and 75 years ago, are aging and reaching the end of their useful life. New developments are being funded by real estate investment trusts and developers and are being welcomed by municipalities and a public that are often genuinely inspired to create the more livable places of the future. Such redevelopments provide a unique opportunity not to just import new 'green' features, but to reimagine the fundamental connections between ecological, human, and non-human systems within the fabric of the larger community in a way that profoundly improves the cognitive experience of a place for the people and wildlife that reside there. The project begins by recognizing this opportunity and posing a question. Through thoughtful design, how can we bring people back into balance with their environment and back into touch with each other? By working with the cultural and built fabric of a place, the project proposes to reintroduce ecological systems and create places that might not be a perfect clean slate but are somehow just right for the people that live there. The project proceeds first by developing an understanding of the overall ecological context for each of four primary development corridors in Virginia, west of Washington, D.C. across the Potomac River. Then, key intersections between stream systems and the development corridors are identified and assessed to determine (a) whether any existing landscape framework surrounding the stream feature is in place and (b) whether the amenities necessary to support a walkable Urban Village center are present within a half mile in each direction along the route. The project proposes a design for revealing a continuous flow stream channel currently piped underground and creating integrated stormwater detention basins along the historic stream channel path at the headwaters of Spout Run in northern Arlington County Virginia. Stormwater mains downstream from the headwaters have already been deemed below capacity for the unprecedentedly intense storms that have become an annual occurrence. Here, the major transportation and development corridor, Route 29 (Lee Highway), just across the Potomac River west of Washington D.C, crosses Glebe Road and a unique geological formation, dubbed for this thesis as the 'Headwaters Plateau'. It is an intersection between historically significant transportation routes as well as a unique intersection between landscape and the built environment. Around the Headwaters Plateau, not just Spout Run but the waters of four other streams begin their path to the Potomac River, flowing through numerous Arlington County neighborhoods along the way. As redevelopment plans take shape for the Lee Highway corridor through northern Arlington County, this thesis proposes the unique intersection between the Headwaters Plateau at Spout Run Gap along Route 29 as the site for the core of a modern Urban Village, with the Plateau and the Spout Run Headwaters Channel as the landscape framework around which the redeveloping Village should be built. / Master of Landscape Architecture / This thesis proposes a design for revealing a continuous flow stream channel currently piped underground and creating integrated stormwater detention basins along the historic stream channel path at the headwaters of Spout Run in northern Arlington County, Virginia. Stormwater mains downstream from the headwaters have already been deemed below capacity for the unprecedentedly intense storms that have become an annual occurrence. Here, the major transportation and development corridor, Route 29 (Lee Highway), just across the Potomac River west of Washington D.C, crosses Glebe Road and a unique geological formation, dubbed for the purpose of this thesis as the 'Headwaters Plateau'. It is an intersection between historically significant transportation routes as well as a unique intersection between landscape and the built environment. Around the Headwaters Plateau, not just Spout Run but the waters of four other streams begin their path to the Potomac River, flowing through numerous Arlington County neighborhoods along the way. As redevelopment plans take shape for the Lee Highway corridor through northern Arlington County, this thesis proposes the unique intersection between the Headwaters Plateau at Spout Run Gap along Route 29 as the site for the core of a modern Urban Village, with the Plateau and the Spout Run Headwaters Channel as the landscape framework around which the redeveloping Village should be built. Through design, this thesis is an investigation of the potential integration of ecological systems such as stream hydrology into the design of modern 'Urban Villages' with the intent to create impactful individual experiences that provide a shared sense of connection within the community to its surrounding landscape. Throughout the country, redevelopment plans are focused on creating increased-density 'mixed-use' communities within existing urban and suburban areas - often called Urban Villages in the lexicon of the New Urbanism planning theory. This represents a move away from the predominant approach of separation of land use zoning practices. Such redevelopments provide a unique opportunity to not only import new 'green' features, but to reimagine the fundamental connections between ecological, human, and non-human systems within the fabric of the larger community in a way that profoundly improves the cognitive experience of a place for the people and wildlife that reside there.

There is an abundance of ready-made tools for assessing the economic value of green infrastructure. Each with more or less unique design components and method approaches concerning quantifying and monetizing green infrastructure. Use of a single ready-made tool to support decisions and justify funding of inclusion of multifunctional green infrastructure in urban development may, due to different tools’ various designs and method approaches, risk excluding acknowledgement of relevant ecosystem services. This literature study embodies the logic of comparison by using content analysis method to explore possibilities of producing more comprehensive economic assessments of green infrastructure. This through contrasting content and design features of two such tools: Benefits Estimation Tool, and Green Infrastructure Valuation Toolkit. In addition, it analyses and discusses potential problems and opportunities that may arise when complementing tool A with methods or design features from tool B, and vice versa. Findings suggest that some few methods are similar enough not to constitute a complementary foundation between the tools, but that a combined use of some specific quantification and valuation methods may increase an assessments’ comprehensiveness. Findings also suggest that in combining the tools’ methods inaccuracy and uncertainty of an assessment are likely to increase. The study discusses tool-related problems regarding uncertainty, assessment of social benefits, and perception of value. It concludes that even though mutual complementarity is possible to achieve and in doing so more aspects of GI will be addressed, combining valuation tools in the pursuit of increased assessment comprehensiveness will likely generate problems in terms of assessment inaccuracy. The study may provide aid for developers of green infrastructure valuation tools and for practitioners conducting economic green infrastructure assessments or cost-benefit analyses. / Det finns en uppsjö färdigdesignade verktyg syftade till att bedöma det ekonomiska värdet av grön infrastruktur. Varje med mer eller mindre unika designkomponenter och metodsammansättningar gällande kvantifiering och värdeuppskattning av grön infrastruktur. Användandet av enbart ett sådant verktyg för att skapa beslutsgrund och rättfärdiga investering för multifunktionell grön infrastruktur i en stadsmiljö kan, på grund av olika verktygs varierande design och metodsammansättningar, riskera utesluta relevanta ekosystemtjänster. Den här litteraturstudien tar avstamp i en så kallad jämförande logik genom att använda den vetenskapliga metoden innehållsanalys för att undersöka möjligheterna att skapa mer omfattande ekonomisk bedömning av grön infrastruktur. Detta genom att kontrastera innehåll och design av två sådana verktyg: Benefits Esitmation Tool och Green Infrastructure Valuation Toolkit. Dessutom analyserar och diskuterar studien potentiella problem och möjligheter som kan uppstå när verktyg A kompletteras med metoder eller designkomponenter från verktyg B, eller vice versa. Undersökningsresultaten antyder att mellan de två verktygen är vissa metoder så lika att ingen komplimenterande grund kan utrönas, men att ett kombinerat användande av några specifika kvantifierings- och värdeuppskattningsmetoder kan öka omfattningen av en ekonomisk bedömning av grön infrastrukturs värde. Resultaten antyder också att genom att öka omfattningen av den sådan bedömning brister bedömningens precision och rimligen ökar även dess osäkerhet gällande uttryck av ekonomiskt värde. Studien diskuterar verktygsrelaterade problem gällande osäkerhet, bedömning av sociala fördelar, och förnimmelse av värde. Den drar slutsatsen att ömsesidig komplettering av verktygen och flertalet nya aspekter av grön infrastruktur till trots är det sannolikt att ett kompletterande av verktyg skapar problem gällande bedömningens precision. Studien kan bistå med hjälp till utvecklare av bedömningsverktyg för grön infrastruktur och för tjänstemän som genomför en ekonomisk bedömning eller lönsamhetsanalys av gröninfrastruktur.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Mary C. Kingery-Page / A 2009 research report by the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Resources Inventory predicts that the developed area in the United States will increase by 54.4 million acres during the next 25 years (McMahon 2010, 2). America’s rural landscape and character is replaced everyday by “placeless” neighborhoods with limited emphasis on conservation efforts. The intent of this report is to demonstrate the benefits of applying conservation design principles to the development of a conservation subdivision in rural Kansas. A 132 acre tract of land, currently known as Nelson’s Ridge, is planned and designed for a subdivision development. The property is located just east of Manhattan, Kansas. The site includes a tributary drainage corridor surrounded by woodlands, existing agriculture fields and upland prairie. It is located no more than a mile from existing amenities of a growing residential and commercial corridor along Highway 24 in Pottawatomie County. The preliminary plat designed by local engineering firm Schwab-Eaton, demonstrates America’s typical or “conventional” approach to subdivision design (Arendt, 1996). The alternative approach is known as a low-impact development or “conservation development” (Gause 2007). After completing a thorough site inventory and analysis, two preliminary designs eventually led to a final conceptual master plan. The two preliminary designs included contemporary and neo-traditional schemes, each portraying conservation principles in alternative ways. Fully understanding the two design alternatives allowed for a balanced and more cohesive final design that incorporated the most positive aspects of both conservation approaches. The preliminary plat and the conservation design were then compared and analyzed in terms of demonstrated design principles and their economic feasibility. This project provides an example for rural subdivision development in Pottawatomie County, Kansas. The project provides decision makers with a conceptual master plan for Nelson’s Ridge that implements conservation subdivision design principles. This project will educate developers, homeowners and the public about design alternatives for subdivision development. The comprehensive analysis of the proposed design will provide important insight into the benefits and limitations of implementing conservation principles into a development.

Syftet med fallstudien har varit att undersöka hur öppen dagvattenhantering och platsens användbarhet skulle kunna kombineras så det ena inte utesluter det andra. Studien utgick ifrån en hypotes om att det finns många konflikter mellan öppen dagvattenhantering och användbarhet. Motsättningarna mellan de olika perspektiven skulle därför innebära, enligt hypotesen, att det är omöjligt att planera för det ena perspektivet utan att skapa problem för det andra. Undantaget skulle vara om kombinationen varit en målsättning under förarbetet. Fallen som har studerats är Ekostaden Augustenborg i Malmö där öppen dagvattenhantering har prioriterats och Stadsparken i Borås där platsens användbarhet har varit en tidig målsättning. Fallen är goda exempel utifrån två olika perspektiv men har gemensamt att de hamnar under begreppet urban parkmiljö. Genom observation, intervjuer och textanalys har fallen studerats närmare. Hypotesen har kunnat verifieras utifrån de två fallen. För mer generella slutsatser behöver fler fall studeras. Resultatet från fallstudien presenteras i form av framtagna planeringsprinciper och förslag på vidare studier.

Houston's Fifth Ward neighborhood is one of the last remaining areas of the inner city to have not yet seen large-scale redevelopment. Situated just northeast of downtown, the neighborhood's population is predominantly low- to mid-income African Americans; demographics are similar today as they were during the neighborhood's prime, from the 1920s-60s, when the Fifth Ward was a cultural hub of Houston famous for its musical culture of zydeco and blues. The ward's rich history also has dark spots, however, specifically its longstanding reputation as a center of poverty and violent crime, and its physical vulnerability to damaging floods. Much of the neighborhood's built history is unpreserved and unprotected, at risk of being wiped off the map by both development interests and extreme weather events. By modernizing the city's approach to stormwater management and infrastructure and strengthening its historic preservation and emergency management practices, Houston could help preserve one of its oldest communities, while also decreasing flood volumes, improving air and water quality, saving money, and establishing a pattern of smart growth citywide. In addition, neighborhood level efforts to promote placemaking via preservation and sustainability efforts can help the Fifth Ward leverage the redevelopment process to change its reputation, ensuring a future for the community that respects its past. / text

Flood events have become more frequent in Europe, and the adaptation to the increasing flood risks is needed. The Flood Directive set up a series of measures to increase European resilience, establishing Flood Risk Management Plans (FRMPs) at the level of the river basin district as one relevant action. In order to efficiently fulfil this objective, the involvement of stakeholders as well as the analysis of their roles, responsibilities, and demands has been considered to be crucial to develop FRMPs. As a result, the hypothesis tested in this paper is that a consensus solution for the 2021 update Austrian Flood Risk Management Plan is feasible. To demonstrate this, both in-depth interviews and questionnaires to key Austrian stakeholders are implemented. The information collected in both participatory techniques are then used to run a conflict prevention analysis. The results show that (a) improving the coordination among regions and including better land-use planning approaches are preferable to a hypothetical business as usual scenario; and (b) a consensus solution for the 2021 update Austrian FRMP might be achievable on the basis of both a deep discussion on the state-of-the art and green infrastructure development.

Lake Champlain is a major economic driver for Vermont's tourism economy, as well as a primary source of drinking water for many of the state's residents but nutrient pollution represents a potential threat to ecosystem health and economic well-being. From December 2011 to December 2012 a field trial of an EAF steel slag filter was assessed for its feasibility in treating wastewater originating from Swan Valley Cheese (SVC), in Swanton, VT. The study focuses on a period of the filter's operation from May 4 to October 10, 2012. The plant generates approximately 20,000 gallons per day of high P concentration wash water which is treated in an open aerated lagoon. The filter treated effluent from this lagoon. The major goals of this research were to conduct a field trial of an EAF steel slag filter to evaluate its effect on total P (TP), dissolved reactive P (DRP), and total suspended solids (TSS). Research was also conducted on pH reduction for filter effluent. Results indicate that the filter removed 95.83% of TP, 96.65% of DRP, and 52.25% of TSS. Average pH effluent was measured at 10.12 ±1.55. Additionally, a field study was conducted on sampling two unlined bioretention systems treating urban stormwater runoff. Methods used are presented and methodological considerations for future studies are presented to guide researchers in more effective and efficient methods for obtaining influent and effluent samples from bioretention systems that are not necessarily designed for sampling.

Green Infrastructure of Central Europe Green infrastructure is a strategically planned network that broadens the traditional conservation efforts to encompass the concept of ecosystem services. This study aims to identify green infrastructure network in Central Europe. Method presented in this thesis is an analysis of ecological connectivity based on ecosystem services potential quantified for CORINE land cover classes (Burkhard et al., 2009). Design of ecological corridors between the core areas represented by Natura 2000 sites is dependent on the capacity of ecosystems to provide ecological integrity and regulating services. Analysis was performed in ArcGIS Linkage Mapper extension. Green infrastructure network identifies 17 % of area of Central Europe that provides high values of ecosystem services. Corridors also create linkages between Natura 2000 sites and improve biodiversity conservation as well as they support migration corridors for large mammals. Full implementation of the Birds and Habitats directive and promoting of a European Green Infrastructure are two important targets of The EU Biodiversity strategy to 2020. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Timothy Keane / Wichita is an historic keystone in American history. Since 2002, Wichita has begun another period of urbanization and the Wichita Downtown Development Corporation (WDDC) was formed to help facilitate the needs of both the people wanting to move downtown and the developers who aim to realize the city’s historic potential. With the help of the WDDC the City of Wichita adopted the Project Downtown Master Plan developed by the Boston based firm Goody Clancy in 2010. The Project Downtown has a market driven development strategy that has little concern for ecology. The economically driven master plan gives little reason for a developer to be ecologically and socially oriented. The City of Wichita does have a rudimentary incentive focused on public infrastructure. Essentially, the City of Wichita will front the money to help develop the public infrastructure of a site to ease the total development costs. This is the key to begin defining the Project Downtown’s green spaces that are socially and ecologically oriented. Green infrastructure is a method of developing land used by pedestrian, automobile, and other human needs in a way that is ecologically sensitive. The general idea of green infrastructure is to open up the barrier of an impermeable infrastructure created by urban development to the soil below. The goal is to get as close to an undeveloped footprint as possible while still meeting the needs of the humans who occupy the area. This project looks at the Catalyst Site C-2 (chosen by the Project Downtown as an integral step of development) and designs the given program using several green infrastructure techniques. The proposed design is treated as a pilot project intended to treat 80% of the stormwater runoff developed by the building, automobile, and pedestrian space during a two year, one hour storm. This schematic design would cost roughly $536,00 designed using traditional grey infrastructure of impervious pavements that drain directly to the Arkansas River. By implementing green infrastructure the costs total roughly $533,000 saving $4,000 and greatly improving the ecological and social benefits of the design.