The footprint of urban streets have become conflict zones of interests; ranging from efficient automobile infrastructure, building restriction lines, economical interests, shy efforts to introduce nature, services, etc.
How can we, as urban designers, retrieve a portion of this footprint to nature by taking advantage of the existing public parking areas and create a network of streets that speaks to the larger park network?
Can a neighborhood like Adams Morgan serve as an example for a collaborative design between private and public interests to enhance the potential of blue-green infrastructure? / Master of Science / This thesis presents a way of utilizing “public parking areas” to connect the network of streets to a larger network of parks. In Washington, DC, parking areas are public spaces situated between the property line and the sidewalk. Though public, these parking areas are under the immediate care and maintenance of the owners or occupants of the premises.
For the purpose of this thesis, streets in the Adams Morgan neighborhood are used to illustrate the potential of a collaborative design between private and public interests in such parking areas. The Adams Morgan neighborhood provides several key elements, including many residential streets, three DC parks (Walter Pierce, Marie H. Reed Community and Learning Center, and Kalorama Park) and four National Park Service Parks (Meridian Hill, Smithsonian National Zoological Park, Rock Creek Trail and Parkway) as well as an active commercial district.
Moreover, this thesis illustrates the potential benefits of using blue-green infrastructure, which integrates natural with semi-natural landscape elements, including water. Using this type of infrastructure to link streets to the park network would promote sustainability and resilience and provides an opportunity to enhance connectivity and reduce park fragmentation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/74972 |
| Date | 08 February 2017 |
| Creators | Escobar, Laura Cecilia |
| Contributors | Architecture, Piedmont-Palladino, Susan C., Morton, Elizabeth, Archer, Scott Brandon, Kelsch, Paul J. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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