THE GRANITE GARDEN Urban Nature and Human Design ANNE WHISTON SPIRNLibrary of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Spien, Anne Whiston, 1947- “The granite garden, Bibliography: p. 290 includes index. 1 Giy planning —Environm Cities have often been likened to symphonies and poems, and the comparison seems to me a perfectly natural one. They are in fact objects kind, The city may even be rated higher since it same a natural object and a thing to be cultivated; individual and group; something lived and something. dreamed. It is the human invention par excellence. (Ctavpe Lévi-StRauss, Tristes TropiquesCONTENTS PREFACE Prologue / The Granite Garden PARTI CITY AND NATURE ity and Nature ral Environment Transformed 14 The Search for Nature: Park, Suburb, and Garden City 29 PART II AIR Chapter 2 / Dirt and Discomfort Poisons in the Air 43 Inversions and Stagnant Air 46 Gusts and Lal The Urban Heat Island 52 A Mosaic of Mi tex Stret Canyons, Plazas, and Parks 55 Chapter 3 / Improving Air Quality, Enhancing Comfort, and Conserving Energy Sun, Winds, and Emissions 63 Improving the Air along Streets and Highways 67 Creating More Comfortable Parks and Plazes 74 Designing « Cleaner, More Comfortable, and Energy-Eficient City 77 ‘A Plan for Every City 85 PART III EARTH Chapter 4 / Shifting Ground and Squandered Resources ‘Shifting Ground 92 Squandered Resources 101 Contaminated end Compacted Land 102 41‘CONTENTS. PART IV WATER + Chapter 6 / Floods, Droughts, and Poisoned Water Increased Floods 130 Povsoned Water 134 Draindlng Water Supplies 138 Chapter 7 | Controlling and Restoring the Waters Water im Motion 144 Storing Flodwaters 145 Restoring and Conserong Water 150 ‘Desig the City to Conroe and Restore Water and to Prevent Floads ‘A Plan for Every City 166 PART V LIFE Chapter 8 / Urban Plants: Struggle for Survival ‘A Vanishing 72 Hoste Hebi ‘An Expensive Aesthetic 179 Chapter 9 / Nurturing the Urban Biome "Phe Necessities of Life 185 88 Desig 1A Plan for Every City 208 Chapter 10 Pets and Pests impoverished and Fragmented Habitats 208 Wilfe as Nuisance 23 129 2 ase 25, PART VI THE URBAN ECOSYSTEM ‘The City as an Infernal Machine Waste 231 Unf Chapter 13 / Designing the Urban Ecosystem "Betioays of Energy and Poluton 244 Using Energy Efficiently 246 Exploiting Urbon Wastes 250 Perceiving the Whole 254 ‘A Plan for Every City 260 ‘Consequences 255 22 279 290 315, 321 ‘CONTENTSae PREFACE Noe pervades the city, forging bonds between the air, earth, water, and living organisms within and themselves, the forces of nature are neither benign not ‘mankind. Acknowledged and hamessed, floods and landslides, poisons ind water. Unfortunately, cities hhave mostly neglected and rarely exploited the natural forces within them. More is known about urban nature today than ever before; over the past two decades, natural scientists have a of knowledge about nature in the city. Yee been applied directly to molding the form of the cty—the shape of its buildings and parks, the course of its roads, and the pattem of the ‘whole. A small fraction ofthat knowledge has been employed in es. fablishing regulations to improve environmental quality, but these have commonly been perceived as restrictive and punitive, rather than 4 Posing opportunities for new urban forms, Regulations have also Proven vulnerable to shifes in public policy, at the mercy of I cal concerns of the moment, whereas the physical form endures through generation after generation of politica United States, the Reagan administration of the 1980s tional hhad been constructed to implement those policies, and undermined the achievements of the previous decade. Regulations controlling the emission of air pollutants may be altered, but the urban form designed to disperse those pollutants will continue to do $0 re- gardless of changes in policy. ‘This is a book about nature in cities and what the city could be like if designed in concert with Processes, rather than in ignorance of them or in outright opposition. It reviews comprehensive strategies for ‘sweeping change most readily implemented in rapidly growing cities, ‘as well as incremental solutions more appropriate to the gradual rede.PREFACE — Neen eee een En in a meadow of high grass, ‘provided ample space for childhood fantasies. Several blocks away, 2 ‘creek disappeared into an underground culvert large enough to accom- ‘modate two small adventurers armed with candles and matches, seck- ing the stream’s mouth. Later, downtown Cincin bus ride away, afforded nature of a dife Fountain Square; the wide, brown ws overlooking the river and city benea eyes and imagination. first learned about the field of landscape architecture while study- ing art history. The letters and writings of Frederick Law Olms ‘me a new appreciation for the social values of nature in the city, which ‘extended far beyond the aesthetic, intellectual, and spiritual it afforded. From the close of the Civil War to the end of the nine- to improve the city’s climate, mitigate floods, and to provid buildings and bustling streets. Olmsted was a social reformer who ‘exploited nature to nurture America’s growing urban population. The ‘addressed and the approaches he advocated seemed very ‘me. I left art history to enter a profession that promised to permit a synthesis of nature, city, and art 'As a landscape architect and environmental planner, I was trained to design new communities that accommodate both human purpose ‘and natural processes. However, it seemed contradictory to be s0 con- ‘cerned with the integration of nature and human activities at the edge of the city and so litle concemed with the reclamation of damaged land at its center. Why concentrate on mitigating damage to land that might not need to be developed were the centr and attractive? Couldn't urban dest that nature afforded and res produce some of the environme in the inner city—clean ai ty more wholesome the countryside with- garden plot, contact with city in concert with nature, too little was known about it for such an approach to have practical results, The form of cities was seen as forged largely by social and ‘economic forces in which nature played little role, except to embellish ‘with street trees and parks. iscovered that a wealth of information about urban nature did exist, sequestered in specialized scientific journals, in conference ‘book arose out of my frus- sions play in molding the city’s form. The result is a book for all concemed with the fate of the city and of nature: policy makers and public officials, journalists and community activists, designers, plan- ners, and citizens. ‘The literature on the natural environment of cities is far-flung and ‘fragmented, falling within many disciplines. | owe much to the many specialists who generously assisted my research. A year's fellowship at the Bunting Institute was indispensable to my immersion in the litera- ture, an overview of which constitutes the book's bibliography. I relied ‘upon personal knowledge of the projects, such as the Dayton Climate Project, the Woodlands New Community, and the Toronto Waterfront Study, in which I was directly involved, and upon published descrip- tions of other case studies. T have been fortunate to have fine teachers and colleagues. Ian MeHarg, Narendra Juneja, Frederick E. Smith, and Carl Steinitz have all influenced this work both directly and indirectly. I am indebted to PREFACEr PREFACE yy. Bartenstein, Blanche Linden-Ward, Mollie Hughes, and Fred Smith for ‘commenting on specific chapters, and to Carl Steinitz and Paul Spirn for reading the entire manuscript A project fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts helped pay for illustrations and for a portion of the time spent writing Dean Gerald McCue and the Grad 1001 of Design provided sup- Port for typing and research assistants. I am particularly grateful to ‘TenBroeck Davison, Jane Emens, Willa Reiser, and Donna Viscuglia tating the production of the manuscript from rough to final and to Randy Palmer for his dedication and talent in producing fe final drawings. Many research assistants have provided valuable aid: John Burkholder, Laurel Raines, Elisabeth Miller, David Johnson, Dana Brown, Lynn Wolf, and Mark Goldschmidt. My editor, Jeannette Hopkins, who frst challenged me to write this book rather than a more technical version, has been a source of relent- 1s, incisive criticism, inspiration, and sound advice forthe past three years, The enthusiasm Jane Isay of Basic Books showed for the idea from the beginning, and the encouragement she offered all along the ‘way, helped shape the book and promote its progress. Judith Greiss- ‘man provided welcome suggestions and support during the final throes of writing and production; and Shella Friedling facilitated the production process with skill and patience. To Paul Spimn, my toughest critic and most wholehearted supporter, Lowe a profound debt of both the heart and the mind, and to my son, ‘Sam, renewed hope for the future, Avni Winston Sein Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1983 The Granite Gardenae Prologue The Granite Garden os FROM SPACE, the earth is a garden world, a planet of life, ‘a sphere of blues and greens sheathed in a moist atmosphere. At night, ares embrace, forests and farms, prairies and deserts. As the new day breaks, the city lights fade, overpowered by the light of the sun; blue seas and green forests and grasslands emerge, surrounding and penetrating the vast turban constellations. Even from this great distance above the earth, the cities are a gray mosaic permeated by tendrils and specks of green, the large rivers and great parks wi ‘Homing in on a single constella cannot yet discern the buildings. But the fingers and sgreen—stream valleys, steep hillsides, parks, and field ‘multiply. The suburban forest surrounds the city; large ponds catch the sunlight and shimmer. Swinging in, now only a few meanders interrupt and soften the edges of the Flying low, one skims over a city teeminghe =e Prologue ‘The city isa granite garden, composed of many in a garden world. Parts of the granite garden are we greater partis unrecognized and neglected, eye, trees and parks are the sole remnants of nature in ‘ature in the city i far more than trees and gardens, and ‘weeds in sidewalk cracks and vacant lots It is the air we breathe, the earth we stand on, the water we drink and excrete, and the organisms with which we share our habitat. Nature in the city is the powerful {force that can shake the earth and cause it to slide, heave, or crumple. It is a broad flash of exposed rock strata on a hil Nature in the city is an evening breeze, a ing down the face of a building, the sun and the is dogs and cats, rats in the basement, pigeons fn the sidewalks, raccoons in culverts, and falcons crouched on sky- scrapers. It is the consequence of a complex interaction between the ‘multiple purposes and activities of human beings and other living creatures and of the natural processes that govern the transfer of en- ergy, the movement of air, the erosion of the earth, and the hydrologic cycle. The city is part of nature. s, whether exotic or native, invariably seek a combination of light, water, and air to survive. The city is neither wholly natural nor wholly contrived. It is not “unnatural” but, rather, 1 transformation of “wild” nature by humankind to serve its own needs, just as agricultural fields are managed for food production and forests for timber. Scarcely a spot on the earth, however remote, is free from the impact of human activity. The human needs and the environ: THE GRANITE GARDEN ion that nature is ubiquitous, a whol city, has powerf apart from nature and even tated the way In which the city is perceived and continues to affect how itis built. This attitude has aggravated and leven created many of the city’s environmental problems: poisoned air nd in the ‘extent of the earth that is now urbanized. AS cities grow, these issues have become more pressing. Yet they continue to be treated as isolated. phenomena, rather than as related phenomena arising from common hhuman activities, exa by a disregard for the processes of na- ture, Nature has been seen as a superficial embellishment, asa luxury, rather than as an essential force that permeates the city. Even those ‘who have sought to introduce nature to the city in the form of parks and gardens have frequently viewed the city as something foreign to nature, have seen themselves as bringing a piece of nature to the city. To seize the opportuni ‘ment, to see beyond short-term costs and benefits, to perceive the consequences of the myriad, seemingly unrelated actions that make up daily city life, and to coordinate thousands of incremental improve- ‘ments, afresh attitude to the city and the molae PART | City and NatureCHAPTER 1 City and Nature i ‘THE NEXT DECADE i ing the future of cities across consequences for millions of peopl lecisions will be made concern- ‘These decisions will have for many years to come. The dete- populations under one singly difficult to secure adequate water and to reconcile the growing conflict between trans- approach to resources and costly blunders is equally cities and ne design the city ral environmentCity and Nature Disregard of natural processes in the city is, always has been, and bbe both costly and dangerous. Many to take account of n as subsided twenty-five to recognize the relationship between water and the natural environment to contribute to a distinctive, mem: symbolic urban form is unrecognized and forfeited. ‘More fortunate are those few cities that have adapted ingeniously to nature: Stuttgart, West Germany, which has deployed it nd to funnel clean, into its congested downtown; Woodlands, Texas, ‘1 new town whose private and public open spaces function as an effective storm drainage system, soaking up floodwaters and prevent- ing floods downstream; Boston, where wellands upstream of the city, ere purchased for flood storage ata fraction of the cost of a new damy Zurich and Frankfurt which manage their u duction as well as recreation; Philadel into a wide range of forests for timber pro- which has transformed the beauty of wild Incremental change through small projects is often more iageable, more feasible, less daunting, and more adaptable to local needs and values. When coordinated, incremental changes can have a far-reaching effect, Solutions need not be comprehen: derstanding of the problem must be Although many of the environmental challenges facing cities are ‘more substantial than ever before, the understanding and the tools (CITY AND NATURE available to meet them are far more sophisticated. They need only be applied. Nature in the city must be cultivated and integrated with the varied pursuits and purposes of human beings; but first it must be recognized, and its power to shape human enterprises appreciated, Urban Nature and Human Design In the natural environment of every city, there are elements of mac at Georgetown mark the limit of navi the boundary between two physiograpl and the coastal plain. These two physiog and scenic qualities, ‘The transition from steep hills to fat plains, from to broad rivers, and from rock quarries to clay pits boundary. a century before laid out the capital’ lly made that land undesirable houses and large apartment city today, in contrast to the itched homes and mansions of northwest Washing- rocks of the piedmont give ton. The erosion-resi is now an area of large homes and embassies. Many. Of the houses are built from the rocks of the region—mica, schist, and gneiss Washington is not unique; many in the eastern Unitedvr City and Nature States, from New Jersey to Geor addle the boundary between jin and piedmont. M ‘Iphia lies on the flat coastal plain where brick row houses are house type The piedmont wasted later with larger high points of the landscape, their silhouettes ag: from afar, New York City owes the distinctive skysc eet, the bedrock plunges hundreds of feet then rises again to within forty feet of the ‘The resources afforded and the difficulties posed by each city’s natural setting comprise a constant that successive generatior ‘each in accordance with thel ‘human community builds. A city’s natural environ: bban form, taken together, comprise a record of the need to provide security, shelter, food, water, and the energy to fuel human enterprises; the CITY AND NATURE the process continues ryside throughout the jacent farmland, forest, of London, Tokyo, and New York—all ig of the land necessary to secure abundant level ground for building, to find frm building foundations, and to exploit q resources transform the ‘The profusion of paved streets, sidewalks, and parking lots, and the storm sewers that drain them short-circuit the hydrologic cycle and change the character of streams and lakes. The disposal of wastes contaminates both surface making the ever-increasing demand for ‘contaminate ground’ resource. Demand for water leads game Plant spec ‘All these interactions between human ‘environment produce tion of energy and processes create a place quite different through the common flow of ni changes they produce in the air, earth, three-and-a-half centuries. In that short span of time the originalCity and Nature cITy AND Nat outcrop. They may « surprising amount of undeveloped land within the city the eve of great expansion. Within eighty yeas, tidal Nats "Mount Vernon (a), the Mill Pond (b), and Back Bay (c) werecentury, which brought rapid growth in at Bostonians changed their landscape Between 1790 and 1825 creasing from 18,320 to 58,277. Remaining va- cant lands were soon filled, and land on the peninsula was at premium. In 1799, the Mount Vernon Proprietors bought John Sin sleton Copley’s property on the Trimountain, at the time mainly years later, the Mount Vernon Proprietors had ity railroad, and dumped in the wa Thus, they not only made level building sites on the at the base to new land. The new, able residential section they created includes much of what is now vide the necessary fil. By the time they had dug sixty feet bel land on Beacon Hill, they had und Monument and a house on an adjaces Bowdoin Street (see figure 1.3) The last stummit of the Trimoui ‘was lopped off in 1835 to create eight new acres of land no ray Street, Sixty-five feet were cut off the top of Pemberton five months and carted away by the most dramatic of these and certainly the large: and continued for several decades (figure was filled with a combination of Boston's garbage and sand and gravel from Needham, nine miles away. The project was fa the steamshovel (see fig- of almost two house lots a train of thirty-five load Bay on the average of once an hour, ni 18 operations have proceeded nearly continuously since the Back Bay (see figures 1.1 and 1.2) FIGURE 1.3 Cuitting off the top of Beacon Hill 0 fil in the Mill Pond, 1811, constant search for new space and a place to dispose of garbage. But the filled land is not without problems. Much of the land is quite low and susceptible to flooding, Extensive areas have a saturated soil in building codes. An earth- ‘damage in these areas than in adja- fore earthquake-resistant provis ‘quake would wreak far great cent parts of the (© as frequent earthquakes as San Francisco or tisk to earthquakes of great magnitude, In in 1755 major earthquakes shook Boston, Damage caused by the 1727 earthquake was considerable. Chimneys toppled, roofs caved in, and some brick buildings cracked and col-Bee 20 FIGURE 1.4 ‘View of Boston, 1870, Building construction on the newly created land in Back Bay ie proceeding rapidly lapsed. An earthquake of similar magnitude today could be catastrophic. The proportion of downtown Bost extraordinary. One-third of San Fra built upon since 1849, as has much of Tokyo Bay." (Not surprisingly, the greatest damage in the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 ‘occurred on these saturated in the Netherlands, the scale of land reclamation is unequale: CHANGING THE COURSE OF TIDES AND RIVERS jonians have long used water for power and for waste disposal, Within thirteen years of their arrival, the settlers of the Massachu- sree fi ucnarshowe was arong te fest peduced inthe Ue Se setts Bay Colony had harnessed the power of the tides to operate the wastewater and streets was emptied onto the tidal flats. The degree to which the tides were able to fush out the wastes to sea depended“ity and Nature The issues of water quality and public health were central to a nineteenth-century controversy surroundin, ‘mill dam in the Back Bay. ."* Opponents posal foresaw the consequences of limiting tidal flow Back Bay, and one opponent predicted in a June 10, ter to the Daily Advertiser what would later become self-evident to the most ‘undiscriminating nose: Citizens of Boston! Have you ever visited the Mall! Have you ever inhaled the Western breeze, fragrant with perfume, refreshing every sense and invige ‘orating every nerve? What think you of converting the beautfl sheet of water which skirts the Common into an empty mud-basin,reeking with filth, abhor, rent to the smell, and disgusting to the eye? By every god of vea, lake, or fountain, it is incredible But the scheme was approved, the the fate of the Back Bay sealed. The water was rapidly ‘opponents: lth 1 Back Bay, railroad causeways that crisscrossed it, By 1849, the Department, demanding that something be done about described its condition as “one of nuisance, offensive age system and the vulnerability of adjacent flooding. Floodwaters and the sewage with it were carried back into the low. lyin In the 18806, Frederick Law Olmsted propos mainder of the Back Bay that addressed both sa (see chapter 7). Its central feature was a park ca and flooding Fens, created CITY AND NATURE by dredging the sda fats into a Bowl and landscaping them with plans let of pendic changes in mater level The Fens was Seger coon cent neighborhood and out of the Fens, jercepted sewage from Stony Brook and di- 1e Charles River. Thus were the Back Bay river's edge were filled to creat whose shape now bears no reset ‘original tidal river. Boston has ne during storms and increasingly sewers and deteriorated treatment ‘most cities of the northeastern United States and many older cities of Europe. In these cities, increased flooding leads to increased water pollution, IMPORTED WATER AND DROWNED VALLEYS water supplied by springs an: ‘even by a municipal water source within the city. An 1834 survey, ofiff Ki City and Nature many were cont ipply was insufficient. The w: ‘was undrinkable. Only seven ‘oF fifty pumps that were chained and padlocked with keys furnished by owners for an annual fee. Some streets had no wells at ‘recommendation that the city tap ‘away in Framingham and Natick, 1g over more than ten years, con- struction began on an aqueduct from Long Pond in Natick to Boston two years." On October 25, celebrated in a grand event on the Boston Common (fg; crowd of between 50,000 and 100,000 attended the Water Celebra- tion. The Mayor declared a schoo! holiday, and the new fountain in the Common gushed all day. The celebration was premature, how- supply with bands, parades, cannon, and gushing fountains. sd Within five years, water use exceeded ‘expectations, and Boston again faced a water crisis | water merely between sity Boston’s predicament arks and squares, and water closets homes. Within five years, the average ly consumption exceeded all expectations. By 1869, only twenty the Water Celebration, the Lake Cochituate water was t. The city of Boston has been casting its eyes on water further afield ever since. ‘As early as 1895, the ‘major source of Boston’s water ever ince. Fifty years later possible to walk on a road through the Quabbin Reserv the water's edge where it disappears, bound for the underwater site of a drowned town. By 41974, the Quabbin Reservoir provided water for nearly two le radius of ies to tap into the Metroy ust serve. Many not out of necessity, but simply for , several of these towns—Canton and Nor ‘aquifer, a poten- in the ground beneath them, and the aquifer is current Today ‘way to the Long Island to Boston. No longer is the battle for ‘and countryside; it now pits city against no exceptional case: all. majo CITY AND NATURE,City and Nature DOMESTICATION OF FLORA AND FAUNA, ‘The Massachusetts Bay Colonists founded the city of Boston on an unwooded peninsula. Its vegetation probably consisted of scrubby shrubs and some trees. Although the colonists used the tides to power their winter and by boat from islands in the harbor during the other The colonists brought fruit trees and garden crops with them from Europe, and in 1728 the first row of trees was planted on the Boston and English elms were all popular. ‘The fashion of planting exotic species peaked in the nin tury when botanical gardens were planted in Boston and in other United States and Europe. The result is today’s ‘on Boston’s is have mixed origin; ingko to eastern Chi parks is not a na transplanted to North America by way of Kentucky, but an asia Europe: Between 1880 and 1895, Bostonians created great new plantations of trees and meadows within the city—Frankl retum, Jamaica Pond. These were man-made landscapes shaped by teams of horses and troops of workers, part in North American and European cities, in which large, pastoral parks were created for the growing urban population. Like Franklin Park in Boston, the landscape of New York City’s Central Park was entirely remodeled and replanted with more than four thousand Rew trees and shrubs. Most of the work on Central Park was accom- plished within a period of five years. The project employed as many 135 2,500 workers per day, who created hills and valleys, ponds and ‘marshes, moving boulders and uprooting mature trees. These pasto- ral parks, designed as an idealized form of nature derived from Brit- ish country estates, require an enormous amount of maintenance. ‘Today, many of them are in decline and badly in need of renovation. (CITY AND NATURE ssociated with early N lawns, parks, roadsides, and cities on both sides of the Atlantic Remnants of native plant commu Populus tremuloides)™ These “urban 's regenerative powers, and so poignant a counter- streets, are now becoming recognized as a re- they are in Germany and the Netherlands (see chapter The colonists brought with them cows, sheep, pigs, and dogs. fares dangerous for man and horse. Const abolish this nuisance. In 1634, Bostonia rot be allowed to run at large, but should be ‘kept up in yards’, and two years later chose Richard Fairbanks as hog-reeve with power to were also a nuisance in seven- joday. The town attemptes snyone below a set mini- imposed for leting a stray. In modern North ‘American cities, estimates of the dog population average one dog per seven people. Free-ranging dogs are still a nuisance in American cities, and in cities of Japan and Great Britain as well. aCity and Nature CITY AND NATURE shoppers. The mall has never achieved its predicted economic repeated 1g. The natural environment of Boston: breeze, its drumlins, rocky outcrops, and harbor island: ponds, marshes, and buried by ands and city streets—is no less vated landscape of the countrysidé gardens of the outer suburbs. Less pastor part of nature, Seeing nature in the perception, iady streets and tended perhaps, but no less a only 4 matter of ‘THE ALTERED AIR Boston’s original situation, open to sea breezes and. teenth- and cig! quickly away. In City,” a fact widely appreciated. tion of the Prudential Center Towe office towers downtown # 18 down to the street. The fi The Search for Nature: Park, Suburb, and Garden City However blind they may have been to natural processes, city dwellers have cherished isolated natural features and have sought to —search for nature has been evidenced, over the millenia, in garden pplots, parks and promenades, suburbs, and utopian proposals for {garden cities. In the seventh century #.c., Sennacharib built a park | for the citizens of Ninevah; in the nineteenth century, cities set .pon, winds were slowed at ground which had been open to the unbroken force o | the Charles River was, by the 1870s, protected wnt gardens with- and impose a hardship on urban pedestrians, especially in large, y plots on pent- ‘open, windswept spaces. When the Prudential Center office tower and shopping mall opened near Copley Square, stores anticipated So long as the city rem: from the countryside. Mi those of others." Most of this acreage was outside the city walls, but ‘enclosed. The open portion of the shopping plaza some land for crops and grazing lay within the walls, a precaution able even in summer, when the winds kick up 28against siege. Thousands of years later, in medieval Europe, agricul- ke fowling and fishing, formed a part of ty and countryside were still interconnected, and dung carted as true of first-century Rome as it was and twentieth-century New York. By the seventeenth century in Europe, a garden of one’s own and easy access to the countryside, formerly the privileges of every townsman, were outside the reach of the common citizen. Where backyard orchards and gardens had once been, houses were now built, served by dark alleys behind the ‘main streets. By the eighteenth century, the many gardens of Co- logne and most other European cities had disappeared. City dwellers | —-have been trying to recapture nature ever since. As early as 1516, | when Sir Thomas More published Utopis, many of the amenities of smaller medi like Cologne had already disappeared in the of London and Paris. More's description of the its abundant and flourishing back- every town The crowded conditions and created by the growing size and density of the nineteenth-century city precipitated a sanitary reform move- Europe. Note the gardens and st path along the moat, and the agri | 3City and Nature THE THREE MAGNETS, Ebenezer Howard's summary ofthe ancient debate on advantages of city ver- sus country life. Howard proposed to combine benefits of both in the Garden City. landscape, an investment whose magnitude period, most cities in the United States ripped open ‘across North America and Europe, intended as 1" part of a comprehensive effort to improve the welfare of city residents through the alteration of ‘environment. When these enterprises hh | I new sewer and water lines. Large public parks | cITy AND NATURE NB. DIAGRAM ONLY. [PUM CANNOTBE ORAWH ‘UNM sire seLecTéo ‘The Garden City, a em aspect of Thomas Mores Utopian ty. Asping fo he ne Band city the garden city and th fb in a rae caer eet acl wo nase asian gration of nature 1 |, but superficial, manifestations of nature and ignored, 1g natural processes. 1s rejected the old city in favor of suburbs or new “garden city, a city where industry and commerce would be integrated with homes, gar~ dens and farms (gure 18)" Apart fom the addition of modern from each other by fact built both in Britain (Welwyn and Letchworth) and the UnitedCITY AND NATURE. tached to it—the penalty of popul tion of the mass movement whose very numbers The first suburb probably appeared shor of the first city wall. The mass exodus of and remote sensing world. Here lights ofthe ciCity and Nature (CITY AND NATURE ub can now be achieved only through understanding the place of narbs, and throughout history. Today that int growing consciousness across socie fare exacted by continued environmental degradat tion of new technology can provide that means. city from the surrounding countryside than the extensive fortifica- tions of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. ‘The growth of most twentieth-century cities has been mainly in outlying sul swept out of the persed pattern act proliferation of the automobile and the construction of highway systems. Modern metropolises have taken on an e new form. The boundaries of many older cities now overlap. in the central core. Urban populations have ’s core in successive waves, setting in a dis- 111, and 1.12). Real solutions to the problems of both city and sub- 37PART II Air| | | Dirt and Discomfort jung disease suffer city dirt and but over the years dirt and discomfort take their 8 percent of the nati quality standards most of the time; three days out of four in New York ‘of ten in Los Angeles." When four days in New York and one people may cough, feel drows Is warn the elderly and those summer discomfort and the energy required for day, and during heat waves contributes to more deat the cooler suburbs. tH ACE VEER 2 412 Problems of dirt and comfort are linked. Automobiles, power plants, furnaces, and factories poison and heat the air. Dense buildings block the wind, preventing, canyons trap pollutar during the day, then Urban activities, forms, and materials, and the manner in which they are combined, account for the wide variation in microclimate and de- gree of air pollution from spot to spot within the city. The characteris- causes and effects, are well TABLE 2.1 ‘Contamina ‘Condensation nhs ‘adem Pe 198) vn | DIRT AND DISCOMFORT All too often, the builders of cities—government and corporate lated whole they represent, Attempts to solve one problem often ‘create several new ones. Poisons in the Air Pollution, illness, and cities have an ancient association. In A. 61 Seneca complained of Rome, “As soon as | escaped from the oppres- tance, sooner smells, than sees the City to . Harold Des Veaux, coined the term “smog” to describe a phenomenon that by then had ies” Londoners had long associated smog nineteenth century, when officals began to tally “excess deaths” during particularly severe episodes, 650 excess documented during a two-day episode in December 76 during a three-day period the twentieth century, December 5-9, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, ozone, carbon pended particulates—are monitored in mostlike Los Angeles, Denver, intense sunlight and congested traffic, are dirty brown haze of ‘ing the carbon monoxide commonly at majo ide cars commuting in heavy traffic and in tunnels and street canyons can cause headaches, working ninety years it has beer three thousand years in Egypt. The burs from wood and coal to oil and gas fuels account for chemical smog, the Los Angeles type, arises when nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons—products of automobile exhaust and petroleum refining—are exposed to intense sunlight and undergo a photo- ‘chemical reaction, producing ozone and other chemically reactive problems. sgasoline-powered vehicles are the primary source of carbon that rely mainly on the private automobile for TAM 22 | extensive sections of the city daily. A Los Angeles commuter driving | two hours a day in morning and afternoon traffic is exposed to ie carbon monoxide blood levels jure sufficient to impair alertness, DIRT AND DISCOMFORT 451e lung. Thiety pe ‘example, are absorbed and retaine ‘The character and severity of air pollution problems varies from city to city. Tables 24 and 2.5 compare cities on the basis of the Pollutant Standard Index (PSD, the values of which there nearly seven days out of every ten. Carbon monoxi the predominant air pol Philadelphia, Seattle, and Portland, Oregon. In Los Angel = bon monoxide problem is overshadowed by the ozone chemical smog. Total suspended particulates are Buff problem; sulfur dioxide, Toledo's. A city’s major industri Of fuels used to generate heat and electricity, and transpor the distribution of air pollution within the city and help determine ‘whether it is concentrated or dispersed. Los Angeles, for example, owes much of its air pollution problem to its sunny climate and its location between ocean and mountains. Its intense sunlight pro- motes the formation of photochemical sm: longed periods of high-pressure weather limit circulation, In New York City, where heavy traffic penetrates narrow street canyons, the carbon monoxide problem is primarily a consequence of transporta- tion patterns and urban form. Inversions and Stagnant Air episodes, those that invariably caused by ‘currents of warm air rising into cooler air above. Occasionall ‘normal pattern of temperature stratification may be “inverte cooler air below and warmer air above: when a warm air mass moves in over a cooler one; when warm air flows over a colder surface; or when the air near the ground is cooled from below at night, The cooler air, unable to rise into the warmer air above, is trapped near Definition of Pollutant Standard Index (SI) Values TABLE 23 Patan Level Cautionary Stctements General Heath fete 0,0 -—«O, iN (oun dshown, how, sal? salam aim 1 eeu, how, aime 1000 ‘Ai Quay Pst Yaue 3750 3000 1200 srs 1000 460 2820 00 Signicant harm Emergency 500 00 Premature death of and Al pertone should remain ‘ely. Healy people Wl experience adverse Symptoms. that allet ‘het normal avy Premature onset ofceain Elderly and persons with ‘eases im adation to Significant aggravation 260 wo 40 as Waring ‘esting diseases should v0 os ‘doors and reduce phys. cal acy ‘iseate should Stay i & toms "inthe healthy Population. Ml aggravation of synp- NAAQS 0 so 109 sey ‘Should reduce physical toms in suscepable per fons, with tration symptoms inthe healthy population. Quy, eth Aral Re 1979 "1 was wed ed othe Alt Uv 200mTABLE 2.5 Frequency of Unhealthy ellutent Standard Index : : $ ' ~33/8 ay Daring 11S /BR eri iy in oh ey tea Pt exceed 10, the ground for hours or even days and all the city’s poisonous emis- sions with it. The longer the inversion persists, the higher the con- the city, Inversions are occasional land brief events in all cities, cities with a topographic or cl mon and prolonged in cities mates characterized by frequen, stable high-premure systems, Like ‘odrigues Cabrio named Lou Angeles “the (2 after observing the smoke from Indian fires Bay of Smokes” in trapped by an inversion.” an industrial city in the Neck seers of 247 ay pe oa 49Gusts and Lulls r y urban pedestrians are ip and concentrate pollut- ‘The city presents a rough abrupt changes in shaps drag on the layers of individual city is along streets oriented parallel reets running at 1 bottom of deep STREET canyons oe TpPOLLUTANTS, yards of one another or from one second to another in the same FIGURE 2.1 ‘The formation of inversions in valley cies and steet canyons, both a result of the same processes. FIGURE 2.2 eduction of wind speed over city and suburb, expressed here as percentage of, gradient winds, those winds uninfluenced by surface friction. Winds, slowed By the complex building surface in cities, may be hal as strong at ground level level countryside. nearly 6,000 people were ill, including more than 60 percent of the elderly residents, and 20 people were dead.” To ignore air pollution con: experience frequent inversior where they would be industries on the basis of prevai wind directions under inversions ray be swept back over the city HEIGHT ABOVE GROUNDIIN METERS) DIRT AND DISCOMFORTAir yy MINIMUM TEMPERATURE 14 MAY 1959 | ‘countryside. These materials absorb ‘greater quantities than the plants, rests, fields, and ponds. All day 1 | and store incoming solar radia~ “The disparity in air temperature between the city center and rural calm nights a few hours turing, heating buil igenerating electricity. The combi bolic processes of ple who live in the city adds to total, a phenomenon appreciated by anyone who has ridden crowded bus or elevator.fence between city and country is minimal and may even be re- versed, but by mid ‘The city’s central b within the heat island. sity influence more than does city size. Areas of si and density in Leicester, England of the heat island development type ion 270,000) and ninety miles away in London (population 8,250,000) have experienced the ‘same excess of temperature over nearby rural areas on the same ‘nights. In fact, mini heat islands have even been measured in small courtyards and shopping malls (igure 2.4)" FIGURE 24 ‘Shopping mall heat island, generated by dense build ‘grees centigrade (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) otter than in a suburban neigh bborhood one block away (outermost circle) ‘may have a beneficial of a detrimental effect on. ‘The heat island reduces winter heating bills, more energy than heating and, furthermore, vating the heat island. A study of twelve cities in different parts of the United States fewer days in the city New York City and 56 percent in 80 and those suffering from hy- the densest parts of the city are therefore subject air temperatures but also to the additional heat radiated from sur- rounding pavement and buildings.” A Mosaic of Microclimates: Street Canyons, Plazas, and Parks ‘composed of a ich are created by the same procestes that oper le scale. The same phenomena that characterize the DIRT AND DISCOMFORT 55Re. a pockets of severe ai fences in wind behavior. Three common oop. A child on Park Avenue rides the sidewalk under the doorman’s watchful eye; his parents jog be- side morning traffic. Lives are lived out on the street—playing, The street isthe city’ it is one of the unheal Poisonous gases hi coats the roadway and sidewalk. Cars, buses, and trucks congest the streets, accelerating and braking, emitting streams of carbon monox: ide, nitrogen oxides, and bits of lead and unburned fuel. The st igo traffic characteristic of a busy street produces more pol highway because the concentrat irregular rate of combustion. Oil droplets from the engines are turned into a fine aerosol; asbestos is rubbed from brake linings; the | street pavement literally grinds the rubber from rolling tires into a fine dust. | ‘A downtown street canyon lined by tall buildi ates a high level of noxious substances, but also sion, The volume and speed of vehicular trafic treet level is contaminated. Distance from the road | in determine the distribution of pollutants and the de- | {gree to which they concentrate in a given area. Airborne particles of | lead can decrease 50 percent in the interval between the road's edge | ‘A local inversion may form at the bottom of a shady street canyon. | in the morning, trapping the exhaust from rush hour traffic at | ‘warms the surface and | and other polsons may have reached levels suficient to affect any- fone exposed to this air for as little as an hour. Pedestrians, trafic cops, street vendors, and taxi drivers are not the only ones affected. If the intake shafts for subways or air conditioning vents for build- DIRT AND DISCOMFORT \gs are located near street level, subterranean and indoor concen- ations may match those on the sidewalk” A study on the first, showed fhird, and fifty-fourth floors of one Toronto office buil hat carbon monoxide concentrations were only 28 percer the first floor than on the sidewalk, 37 percent less on the third oor, and over 60 percent less on the fifty-fourth floor." Carbon monoxide concentrations in the lower floors of buildings near con-FIGURE 26 A traffic island park in Cambridge, Massachusets, enveloped in exhaust from uses, cars, and trucks, Anyone siting there inhales a polsonous atmosphere ‘smoke from chimneys to ground level and stir up dust from street and sidewalk, Busy city streets are not suitable locations fo ‘grounds, sidewalk cafes, or vegetable gardens until the streetside air is improved or unless the area is well ventilated and set back from the street. Central Square (igure 2.6), a congested intersection in Cambridge, Massachusetts, exemplifies where not to put a park, In ist of a five-way intersection is a triangular traffic island fit- ible, permeate the air over the tiny park. Dust of lead and hydrocarbons coats the bricks and benches. ‘The park is an oven, baked in heat from surrounding cars and pave- idents, mostly poor and elderly, who ing houses and small apartments. A summer day DIRT AND DISCOMFORT finds several stalwarts sitting in the tiny triangle, barely moving, disoriented, Is their confusion and lethargy due 10 the po he cy are found in nary every city. Cent fees on the triangle ‘may even be dangerous is sweep down and around adjacent buildings and blast un- in in one year from head injuries suffered after being knocked over by Wi 1 base of 3 tall building.” Plazas are frequently too shady in winter and ex- pposed to too much sun at the hottest time of day in summer, City Hall Plaza is one of Boston’s major outdoor public spaces, a sgrand plaza of brick surrounding a striking, modern city hall. Its monumental scale sets off the monumental building. The visual ef- ect is enhanced by the federal government buildings that face on Boston's Government Center. But the plaza, however im- ting for architecture and a center for government, is isaster for physical comfort. In summer, it offers no shade to‘and expansive, City ited to a more benign rounding city, in part because the park is n ‘nants, but also because the leaves and twigs of trees and shrubs filter century urbanists created large ty a8 “lungs for the city.” Today they are disappearing, and easy prey to public New parks, completely paved and placing them. There city around them, either id the very young; lead poisoning th of city residents and workers; in property damage. Without interven- among children; deg, creased energy dema tion, these problems ens Despite cheerful predictions ‘meet national standards against jobs. land industries to substitute with coal. Control of automobile emis- | | alone could solve carbon monoxide and ozone problems, but lions of individual car owners, Gesign that encourages the dispersion and fand improves the overall city climate. Most metropo fnew building projects exacerbate air pollution and accent ‘worst problems of city climate. Industry and highways are located in ion, More and more cars are funneled ‘canyons by new, larger expressways, ’ iting areas, and intake vents for air conditioners are all placed along busy streets. New buildings block potential to improve air quality and comfort. lian piazzas to Boston and. ‘and Hong Kong, with interior climates main- aces and air conditioners, To manipulate the city’s climate for health, comfort, and energy conservation is imperative, yet the designers and planners of modern cities seldom do so. The builders of ancient cities addressed these issues with more concern and more skill. DIRT AND DISCOMFORT ax alt CHAPTER 3 Improving Air Quality, Enhancing Comfort, and Conserving Energy iE BUILDERS of ancient cities recognized the benefits of adapt: ing urban form to climatic conditions. The Roman architect Vitruvius ‘cautioned his contemporaries of the first century 4.0. to give careful consideration to sun and winds when designing new towns in outlying provinces: The town being fortified, the next step Is the apportionment of house lots within the walls and the layout of steets and ‘hot winds enervating. ‘moist winds unhealthy. We must therefore avoid mistake in this mater and Communities, For example, Myii Lesbos isa town bule with magnificence and good tase, lack of foresight winds, their constant Blasts rushing fined by narrow alleys, wills at as they come in they may strike aga blocks and their force thus be broken and dispersed.” IMPROVING AIR QUALITY, ENHANCING COMFORT, AND CONSERVING ENERGY ee ees ee eae ees ae te ne eaeatec ct eatraed D escry" He uademcnd the o “temperature on the dispersion Many solutions to air pol available today have beer Their success and simila that knowledge is infrequently applied. A few contemporary parks and plazas, like Paley Park at 53rd Street near Fifth Avenue in New ributes to their overwhelming social suc- 1 best historic examples and are worthy of ier city, the basic notion will always appl understanding of process. Sun, Winds, and Emissions small commercial and domestic furnaces all contribute to the city’s air pollution. 63RAPWPFAR ooo t if 1 Understanding how pollutants aze emitted isthe f Cee YX Goo control and dispersal. There are three types of s01 land area—each characterized by the variety and quai tants produced, and th located in areas with good vent and parks. ‘A line source—a major trafic artery, for example: measured and controlled, but the types and amount below grade or enclosed by adjacent ‘An area source is the sum of many When designing ventilation and comfort, and among the need have experimented with such “district heating,” but US. cities have yet to apply it widely as a pollution control and energy conservation 65the afternoon a breeze blows off the water onto the land; in the ‘morning bsorb more heat nds around a single building is well under- rules of thumb permit designers to predict moves in more complex ways through groups of, ‘and here there are very movement and mean FIGURE 3.2 ‘The complex pattem of winds around an isolated building creates conditions where a person may sit in comfort in one spot and be knocked over by the force of the wind in «spot only twenty feet away. Wind speeds increase with height, so that winds hit different parts ofthe building with varying force | | | i ED nino omecncns sng different city environments than do air temperature and hu- portance of controlling direct sunlight and wind is jon of radiant heat to comfort is often 0 to three times more heat walking than controlled by decreasing or increasing acti ynfort therefore vary with activities of different What degree of air pollution or comfort is “accep! "pend on how many people use a place, when they they stay there, and whether they can choose to pollution problems of the city cannot be solved at once, but the most polluted and uncomfortable places, where many people spend much of their time, must be the fist priority for any city Improving the Air along Streets and Highways ‘The street cannot be avoided. Most people live, work, travel, and play on or near the street. Yet, as noted eat IMPROVING AIR QUALITY, ENHANCING COMFORT, AND CONSERVING ENERGY orAir 68 effect an enormous improvement in ait qual ment of exist by the enforce. i regulations and standards and the creation of a few Planners have tra ducing the emis impact upon people designing transportation networks and land use patterns to mini ‘mize travel and encourage the use of mass transit; enhancing smooth traffic ow; and protecting residential areas. Less attention has been given to the redesigning of the street or highway right the regulation of adjacent land uses to encourage the dispersion of pollutants and limit exposure to them. Traffic engineers distinguish among hierarchy of roads—local there are only two types of roads, and one for people. Efficiency of movement is paramount on € pressways and arterials; access and the quality of the ment should take precedence on collectors and local streets ‘The social importance of the local city street was demonstrated in 4 study of a neighborhood in Baltimore that showed that neigh hood residents, predomi .come blacks, preferred to so Cialize on the street than in nearby parks and playgrounds. Parks ‘were frequent was bustling, wi As the en they might 200 cars Many carrying many more than 2,000 cars per day. The FIGURE 33 Dutch woo residential street with special trafic regulations where cars people and gardens ‘comfort and to safety and quality of li The Dutch have developed a new type of the residential have precedence over cars and they roadway; cars must drive at a walking pace (about ten dons between street and esulting street space is shared by originated in Delft, where con- ventional streets were transformed by repaving them to eliminate ‘curbs, by introducing obstacles like mounds, raised planters, and trees which forced drivers to wind their way around them, and by consolidating parking (see figure 3.4). The Dutch have created 800 sidewalk are ooSacer" ——_ Otaef pect pee teen ae \e from the should separate the ro3 FIGURE 3.4 Plans show how existing streets are converted into woonerven, The roadway {e narrowed, parking consolidated, and benches, tees, and gardens added. Ik, Row’ ‘edge from sage anhance the setback by filtering fumes and dust a woonerven in 200 cities and there is a long waiting list for future van eras (eee Bgure 3.6). Frankfurt, Germany, one of 2 number of Conversions! German cities have implemented a similar concept Rt oie clone ee falled “Wohnbericht.” Boston, an American city whose downtown streets resemble those of many European cities, has FIGURE 3.6 ea seoet ace] stalled one woonerf in the South End, on Appleton Street snd other poll ‘version transformed Appleton Street from 2 ast Expressway into a social street for local residents. The decrease i {is dramatic, and the benefits to air quality on this residen- designed to disperse air pol them without impeding traffic movement. Arterial streets average 24,000 vehicles per day, and they generate a zone of ait pollution that extends about fifty meters (164 feet) from the edge of both sides oO 20Ne on wownens [oS enero[PROVING AIR QUALITY, ENHANCING COMFORT, AND CONSERVING ENERGY Walelone| SELECTING PLANT SPECIES TO REOUCE PARTICULATES. ‘New highways should be located in areas with favorable ventilation ARRANGING PLANTS play. The right-of- To REOUCE PARTICULATES FIGURE 37 whenever possible. Small parks and plazas should be set back and separated from the st | the city, but are of- spaced far enough apart to permit the free dheir canopies. The setback of homes, hospi- n and traffic is below 300 cars per hour.” Any traffic speed on major streets will only exac- 18 ventilation and preventing the formation of stagnant air pockets. The height of buildings in relation to the width erbate air pollution. 72 | 7374 ‘most cities, but the height of the buildings thé deep canyon. Madison Avenue runs not Island and land buses fom city streets, Stockholm, Rot fenna have all banned traffic from various pa have some American cities. 5 in central Copenhagen, has been dedicated 2, Today there are more than 2,000 stores along Strgjet, among them the city’s most expensive department stores and boutiques, as well as some of its most popular restaurants and cafes. Strgjet appeals to tourists and natives alike. People— st strutting, sunning, sitting, watching, and eating—have re- placed the car on the stz sucks have access in the early ‘morning only or from streets atthe side or the rear, FIGURE 3.8 ‘one ofthe most intensively used parks in New York City, a com- 4 showing the simplicity with which its climatic effect is ' canopy of tees Creating More Comfortable Parks and Plazas squares have always been in fashion. ‘op and conduct bi yas are pleasant places most ‘moderating the heat of midsummer and warming the ct spring and late fall. Such places are rare and prized. Shady havens are comfortable places to sit. Paley Park in New York City (figures 3.8 and 3.9) is such a haven off busy, noisy, mid76 town East 53rd Street. On a hot, humid, airless summer day, this small park is refreshingly cool. At lunchtime it is crowded i A denser tree, like the Norway maple, would have cast a dark shade and made the park an oppres- wk, Its soothing, fer splashes onto evaporates. On a 1d first. The two sidewalls are covered reflected sunlight from the walls and the radiant heat they might otherwise er outward. Chairs and tables are movable, locked in at night for secu- rity. The distance between chairs can be adjusted to accommodate couples, or solitary visitors. Chairs can be moved close to the 1¢ day is hot or cool. Paley Park is often copied. I ‘excellent example of how a dramatic change in urban microclimate ‘can be accomplished in a very small space. ‘A sunpocket, a protected place that feels 10 degrees to 40 degrees preferably dark, absorbs and reradiates heat from the sun and heat reflected off surrounding walls. A pedestrian can sit quite comfort- in a New York City sunpocket in April or November ‘mometer in a sunpocket may read 80°F or 90°F" Sunpockets have a imate—warm and dry while the sun is out, cold on sunset—so plants chosen for such a place must a winter nigh be able to tolerate these extremes. ‘Shady havens, like Paley Park, and sunpockets are based upon the same principles of heat exchange. Shady havens prevent heat and encourage heat loss by blocking direct sunlight, by prev the absorption of heat in surrounding surfaces and its sul reradiation, and by encouraging evaporation and the penet breezes, Sunpockets enhance heat gain and retard heat loss by cap- turing sunlight, by facilitating the absorption of heat in surroundi walls and pavement, and by blocking wind. The judicious select 1 of of location, form, and building materials contributes to the success | of a shady haven or sunpocket. A southwest orientation is optimal “for sunpockets, Whenever ipture sea breezes, hil water evaporates, Trees cool not by shade alone, Water, pumped the ground, evaporates from their leaf surface so long as water e ground is plentiful. between Fifth Avenue and Madison ‘of Manhattan and has a lavish main- parks built since, such as Wat ,, Washington, and Greenacre Park in New York Dut such expense is not years after planting and need not be ‘and low plants on the ground reduce imple sprinkler—a cheap alternative to Is and fountains—increases both physiological and psychologi- —eal comfort, even in a humid climate, Designing a Cleaner, More Comfortable, and Energy-Efficient City To be most effective, the design yhould be part of a comprehensiv mnserve energy, and improve comfort throughout the ‘at one street comer may find their cause elsewhere, and solu- tions to air quality may increase discomfort ‘Take the example of downtown Dayton, Ohio, problem on plazas and sidewalks at the base particularly nasty situation is the entry to a high-rise apartment IMPROVING AIR QUALITY, ENHANCING COMFORT, AND CONSERVING ENERGYthe entry and the building could have been redesigned. Beyond de- stroying the bi there seemed to be no satisfactory resol -s end. Fortunately, this study was an academic exercise, elderly housing project but one short case study, part as a whole, such st The students went on to prepare a master st entire downtown and in the course of that work found an answer to the problem of the elderly housing complex. The answer lay in looking at the city as a whole. Dayton’s down- town is surrounded on three sides by open land which presents Little friction to the wind. Parking lots, institutional grounds, a high- way, and a river ring the city. Winter winds from the northwest sweep unbroken across an expanse of parking lot, then la ings like the elderly apartment complex with full force, sweeping down and around them. The link between windswept parking lots at the periphery of downtown and turbulence around tall buildings in the center was clearly demonstrated in wind-tunnel tests where the effect of winds of differing force and direction was simulated by blowing air over a scale model of the entire downtown (figure 3.10) When trees were added to parking northwest edge, the wind problems around the entry to the apartment complex were the point where awnings and trees around the bi 1e remaining problem. Once recognized, the sol 1e method for identifying the sol ‘was the first time designers had studied a scale model of an downtown in a wind tunnel for the sole purpose of dev ing a comprehensive plan flowing through spires and across grid roaches Dayton over the surrounding wi oblems. Wind tunnel studies are rarely undertaken before build- icted. They are most often conductedby steel wool on pins. They then used the model to study of different wind conditions at quality in downtown Dayton, Dayton has wide streets and much open land solar orientations on comfort and trees by reference to maps of sun and wind problems which they hhad drawn up using the model Because parking spaces abounded, parking revenues would not be | decreased by adding trees in the lots. There were four differen jing the pack! winds before they hi ing design was a grid of trees evenly spaced along the periphery at thin the parking lot. Planting the trees in a grid rather than in parallel rows would make the trees effective in reducing winds from: from the southwest, so providing was more important than slowing the wind. Th the northwest were spaced further apart, creating a rougher surface and thereby slowing the wind more effectively. ‘The students presented the results of their semester’s work, a mas- ter plan for stre on the length of st IMPROVING AIR QUALITY, ENHANC ., Dayton has put together an ate projects. In 1980 the Unit- matologist who studied the impressive const fd States Forest Service lent Dayton a ‘fic times. The res draw conclusions confidence, Tn 1981 the City of Dayton constructed an experimental parking. tessellated pavement of grass and Jot composed of turf blocks ‘concrete—see figure 3.11) rather than the conventional asphalt. The aaa “FIGURE 3.11 “Tar bock parking lot. Grass grows inthe holes of precast concrete blocks, material absorbs far less heat than asphalt. “OMFORT, AND CONSERVING ENERGYless heat to adjacent fn sunny afternoons degrees Fahrenheit flow through the ways, and resident They have implement restricted the development of those hill ‘urbs, Because of their importance to the whole community, the city movement is slow and weak, easily dammedbuilding and effective only when the velocity of regional winds is | less than two meters per second. During the frequent, lengthy peri- ods of low ; regulated by the ‘mum width for these air fow channels, which are planted wi 1p of the inversion layer, escape the volume of air trapped near ‘ground. Municipal incinerators and power plants were consolidated and moved downwind from the city, and tall smoke stacks, Many industries have sin: provides water warmed by mu Together, these efforts have substantially decreased air pol Stuttgart has also taken measures to provide more comfortable out- door spaces and to reduce summer air conditioning costs. Meteorolo- mores.” Roof gardens and “wet of ponded water) have been introduced to reduce the heat absorbed bby buildings. Parking lots have been converted from asphal blocks to decrease scaped parks, linked to air flow channels wherever possible, to p vide pleasant oases, to cool adjacent neighborhoods, and to Bilt dust from the air. Such efforts have perceptibly improved the micro- climate in downtown Stuttgart. ‘The Stuttgart solution is most applicable to cities with frequent, low winds and implemented St sphic and climatic features have been most successful flow to ve en jon, By harnessing natural patterns of cation. BY 8 ‘velopment of alternative transport to the private automobile. The ity decided to concentrate on building construction and transporta- tion, since a survey of residents conducted in the ea ir conditioning. With improved design, residents now tioning unnecessary, is has explored many ways of reducing automobile use. The ‘ity council decided to develop a system of bikeways in 1968, and that time has introduced conve /-cost public transpor- tation. By encouraging cottage industry. the city also hopes to reduce ‘commuting. ‘The Davis experiment has proved highly successful. A sm: ‘of 33,000 people, Davis was able to explore, implement, sniques for energy conservation which may now be adapted to and housing creased automo! plan. level, Stuttgart’s is a grand scheme; it affects an ie city and captures the imagination. Paley Park is a modest proj- ‘microclimate of one small space, but though the impact of the grand schem« ing and may not be replicable in anothe: [PROVING AIR QUALITY, ENHANCING COMFORT, AND CONSERVING ENERGY 85IMPROVING AIR QUALITY, ENHANCING COMFORT, AND CONSERVING ENERGY ‘modest project can be readily repeated in infinite variations, adapted feeand air quality of the surrounding area and whenever possible to mate and air quality, Specific phenomena, ive importance vary from city to city. Ai iry summers? Too much wind 1 oF local inversions? Large, ‘new playgrounds, bicycle paths, jogging or walking ts ting areas away from arterial streets, highways, and other air pollution maintain a setback from major streets and highways based upon traffic pats dings ses, and parks to funnel desired breezes and Bock Crwantd nds tie Building and landscape materials to create a desirable mirc tmate--to captre or reduce Ret absorption and fo ineease or decrease wind ot city’s most uncomfortable thermal breezes. Knowing, 1, speed, and frequency of shore, and other thermally in- 3 importance, particularly during episodes of stagnant weather. ‘Comprehensive strategies to improve air quality, enhance com- fort, and conserve energy for heating and air conditioning through urban form should: ‘growth including the search for a to the private automo- as the ear i of industry and highways in relation jential districts and to topographic features favoring pollution + addtess the city’s most critical climatic and air pollution problems, particular attention directed to the improvement of conditions in ‘mort severely contaminated and the most uncomfortable areas less severe problems, it is more smeal, as parts of the city are al to focus on the most that would curtail air pollution and explore settlement patterns that most people, These can be redes comfortable in summer and wi ogy exist; the costs for incremental improvement, when combined Every new building, street, highway, and park within the ci ch new construction, are small. The social and economic costs of should be designed to avoid detrimental rations to the clima 87PART III Earthsi as social forces: to sedimentation and ‘human beings have assumed a domi- “The topography of cities is constantly ing basins are filled; waterways are phy, and pavement @ new foundations, and tunnels make 1Earth hazards, squandered resources, and increased ct ident are the result. MINOR DAMAGE, (OMITTED IN CALIFORNIA) Shifting Ground MODERATE DAMAGE, MAYOR DAMAGE. he earth is an illusion. At any mom ground may crack, heave, flow, sli “Map of damaging earthquakes recorded in the United States, showing dense _—hoser along the Pacific coast, around Boston and in southeastern Missoun ‘a dormant process ble le to earthquakes, landslides, subsidence, and Tathquakes topple t water, and telephone Il sissippi River: “The whole land was moved and sae and bursting of f which closed imme- ‘as much as 30 fe Some areas within a city are at much higher risk than others. Most 22 93,Earth SHIFTING GROUND AND SQUANDERED RESOURCES ages between 1970 and 2000, far exceeding the losses from any other geological hazard in that state? ‘The 1906 San Francisco earthquake along parts of the San Andreas The ground shaking associated with earthquakes is destructive and terrifying, as conveyed vividly by an eyewitness account to the 1964 Anchorage, Alaska, earthquake: ie hazards after an earthquake. the deaths from the 1964 Alaska earthquake Sable top pices of earth moved upward, standing lke toadstool with gest ‘overhangs. Some would turn at crazy angles. A chasm opened beneath me. 1 tumbled down. I was quickly on the verge of being buried. I ducked pieces of to 500 miles per hour, may reach ‘When tsunamis hit low-lying co proximity of the author to an active fault, but also to of the underlying soil. The ground shakes with intensity on thick deposits of saturated sediments Ground shaking may also cause fine-grained soil land. The catastrophe, ives and $25 million 1, entire high-rise apartments built on alluvium top- iquefied soil flowed out from under them. Such high- predictable. Turnagain Heights had been identified by 95el ‘quake-resistant construction. (Photo: Los Angeles Times) condemned as a rest even buildings constructed according to the most up-to-date five-story staircases at re View Hospital pulled away from the main building and collapsed. Freeways and overpasses throughout the San Fernando area cracked and collapsed. Water lines were broken in 1,400 places." Coming after nearly forty years of improved seismic building codes, the destruction caused by the San Fernando earthquake was sobering, jor earthquake. Even a modi structures, If homes, hospital SHIFTING GROUND AND SQUANDERED RESOURCES, During the winter of 1977-78, landslides the city of Los Angeles alone. ides occur on steep slopes and on gentle ones, and consist of les, and flows that can cover an ent creep down the slope. way Department respons slide in Portuguese Bend and homeowners. The residents had buil pools probably increased the insta ‘nage for a major When, Highway Department was «i from Portuguese Ber the slope moved, wa Eighteen years to move downslope ide could have been prevented; the ated at $10 million." are the most costly and widespread of geological hazards in the United States. They crack building foundations and ‘expand more niai sipped c) oy ait ee siecle a pena oe FIGURE «4 FIGURE 43 ized problem | Well below sea level pr many homes, schools, and small commercial structures are built on ithout proper precautions. ‘Over decades, the ground under an entire metropolitan region F example, cost taxpayers nearly hal underground underneath these cit damage is confined Swelling clays unde States (ce figure 4.3), like Denver with pronounced dry and wet seasons, where sll mois- ture fluctuates widely, have the greatest problems of swelling sol because expansive clay soils shrink and swell in response to mois: ture, Most city skyscrapers have well-engineered foundations, but | ties, strets, and industries were inundated at high tide. Pipelines 98 99,SHIFTING GROUND AND SQUANDERED RESOURCES buckled, and foundations sheared. The damage was remedied but at tremendous cost, Sea walls and levees were built to restrain the cost of more than drawal by industry on the nearby mainland has accelerated the sidence of Venice during this century and has aggravated an already } severe flood hazard. Portions of Venice are now submerged at high tide, and, in 1966, storm tides flooded 80 percent of the city, damag ing its architecture and destroying much of its art. After the 1966 flood, groundwater pumping was halted and plans undertaken to : stabilize subsidence. Thirty square miles of Tokyo along Tokyo Bay , Qn, design, and materials of have subsided up to seven feet below sea level, also a resul I determine the extent of the hazards to ground water withdrawal. The city built dikes around the entire :h a city’s residents are exposed. Unfortunately, geological haz~ area and restricted groundwater pumping, but the two million peo 1m. Cities prone to earthquakes, for ple who live in East Tokyo are still th by the storm waves of ion of other geological problems, :namis and by potent re of the dikes during | jng landslides and subsidence. “beneath them. ‘Unstable ground underlies parts of is not evenly mining; many of these old mines wer now unstable, Buildings, streets, the ground collapses over car garage in Youngstown, ‘2 230-foot mine shaft collapsed; twenty-three houses were damaged oF destroyed in 1963 when the ground fell in over a mine in Pennsylvania” Sudden ground collapse also occurs in stone. Sinkholes develop where portions are dissolved by water, frequently a8 ar |, and crushed stone in enormous quantities. ‘water withdrawal and leaky wi materials comprise 95 percent of the asphalt on roads and labama alone, humans have induced 4,000 sinkhol ing lots, and 75 percent of the concrete used for foundations, Iks. An ordinary house requires 50-100 tons of id gravel. In the United States, per capita use of sand and 1970 was five tons” ancient geolog ! As cities grow, they exptnd onto land reclaimed (rom formet \ marshes and swanpe and od building ses and garbage dumps ‘undeveloped resources, but are unwilling to permit their ex- tation. Quarry operations and local communities are usually at ‘wood of old wharves and sunken boats decompose at different rate i ‘and may cause subsidence for many years. In the San Francisco Bay { area, one-third of the original bay has been filled since 1849." The 101Earth 102 tudes are borne by all, directly, through the increased cost of a new house, or indi hrough higher taxes for road construction and percent of the sand and gravel resources within fifteen miles of town Denver are inaccessible either because they have been «built upon or because they are too close to existing homes to permit tes that the loss of sand and gravel re- necessitated by the use of lower grade deposits. Contaminated and Compacted Land ‘The earth is increasingly a repository of poisonous residues. Haz- ‘garbage are buried in the ground—invisible, but ty air settle on. verized rub- buildings and on vacant lots; toxic wastes contaminate soils of indus- trial sites and dumps. ‘The earth has always served as a receptacle for human waste, and ‘modern cities that occupy the sites of ancient cities are built on the ‘mounds of their predecessors’ garbage. Finding an appropriate site perennial problem of cities, as testified by an iphrodiasias (ca 4.0. 325): “Whoever throws problem is now intensified by the magnitude of us toxicity. Three-quarters of the garbage generated di States is collected in open dumps, where it is burn« Such dumps pose a health hazard not only during t SHIFTING GROUND AND SQUANDERED RESOURCES but for many years afterward. Water which seeps into the ground Eleneat 103Earth only contamination but compaction sources (see figure 4.5). The densi wt ealeareous sand is applied to icy pavement in winter. Road salt has contaminated groundwater supplies and killed street trees in it | inhibits the growth of plant roots, and exter- rients available to plants. ‘around houses is a serious problem, th many wooden buildings. Because urban, sounds or urban gardens may contain of garden si in Boston found Le 3 percent ofthe total rds ofthe sixty-four gardens pil volume. wrists have trampled the upper layers of il on the Mall in Washington, D.C., to the de Urban soils are an ignored resource. The 5 fen from backyard gardens, neighborhood ‘grounds averaged 800 parts of lead per million. These are stop at the li as “urban lan primary characteristic: het- ‘erogeneity. Neglect of urban soils leads to expensive and embarrass- ing blunders (see figure 4.6). «The risk of geological hazards and the loss of geological resources sce among the best documented and most widely recognized prob- ‘of the urban natural environment. Yet 90 percent of the deaths half of the property damage from earthquakes could be prevent- ly, 95 to 99 percent of damages | Nevertheless, current policy and practice in most cities intensify hazards and accelerate losses, Hospitals, schools, and homes are built for near active faults, high-rise apartment complexes and office ildings on unstable soils that will liquefy during earthquakes. Homes and highways are developed on ancient landslide deposits ‘ing irrigation. Bu en SHIFTING GROUND AND SQUANDERED RESOURCES 105108 building damage. New buildings and streets are planned on land deposits; houses surround longer always possible to trace responsi vidual. The responsibility today the cost is borne by all. cities often exploited the form of the land to a to enhance their society's: monuments ‘exemplified in the situation of the Acropolis in Athens, is today. The limestone, brick, or granite particular to a given themselves to specific build Baris, the red brick of old Philadelphia, the “The information needed to protect a city from geological hazards “and to conserve and restore its resources is more readily available ‘eday than ever before. The processes by which geological hazards “arse and the ways in which they are intensified by human activities “bre well understood. The location of both geological hazards and geo- ‘ogical resources is easily identified, their risk and value easily assessed. Effective means of preventing or mitigating loss, inc ‘the wise location of land uses, the careful design and construction of CHAPTER 50 buildings, streets, and landscaping, have been tried and proven. The city of Los Angeles, for example, has pioneered a grading ordinance i landslide damage. The California loped an Urban Geology Master Plan and communities. The US. Geological Survey hhas demonstrated the application of geology to city design in many ‘case studies throughout the country. Th only be tapped. All cites have the respons of building materials and the restoration ‘must also preserve other mineral resources and from single or multiple geological hazards. Forces of Earth, Water, and Gravity The shape of the land, it the resources it harbors are determined by both forces which erupt from within the earth and forces | understand the factors that can m landslide-prone areas, for example, surface are common features of the plate bound- aries, The distribution of major earthquakes traces gical hazards and resources are usually well known, and maps easily obtained or prepared. While many hazards | can be overcome or mitigated only by expensive structural engineer- |) ing, less costly of islands which border the coast of Asia, as we arts of the world (gure 5.1). Areas at most risk to earthquakes and volcanic predictable; such areas can only be avoided or th lesign. Every city should know the haz- 1e most hazardous places, and how manyEarth ‘complexes and hot In 1974, the of San Francisco adopted a Community Safetye.. 10 99 percent of use, design, con= nd by developing, mosEarth FINDING FIRM GROUND AND EXPLOITING RESOURCES Grading Regul 978 when 93 percent of all landslide dam- regulations in 1952 afte sliding caused $7.5 million in damage have followed every disaster since—in 1956, 1957, and 1962—and TABLE 5.1 Grading Regulations and Property Damage Reduction, 1 a problem which may affect both a region and gle home, has varying solutions, depending upon is hse Tox ‘consmuced Toa damage $3.300/K0 $2,767,000 $182,400" verge damage $530 $100 7 peesie Percentage of wos 13 ons ‘es damaged Seon fae W Reming, Ooi | are, nd Rabe Shae = in id Th Radon Grol Sey 1 damage to structures: 90 in the first two to five years;Earth 118 Conserving and Exploiting Resources tion of mineral resources need not conflict with other land, and may even enhance them. Each fection, for the regulation of tl tual and for the subsequent reclamation and use of the ‘mined-out land, ‘A.new use created by mining sometimes far exceeds the economic value of the mineral resource Duisburg, Germany, mining harbor revived that city’s doomed port. Duisburg is the main inland port Rhine River and one of the largest inland ports in the it has been an important port for six centuries, Until recent port's future was threatened by a six- and-one-half-foot drop in water level since 1900, The harbor master devised an ingenious solution. Because of the hazard of subsidence, ‘mining of coal deposits under the city had been prohibited for years, Ina meticulously plotted and executed plan, 12 million tons of coal ‘were mined from under the harbor to induce subsidence. When the ‘mines collapsed, and the ground beneath the port with them, the water depth was raised nearly six feet." Kansas City, Missouri, is the underground capital of the world, with more than 44 million square feet of warehouses, factories, and ‘offices converted from old limestone mines. The limestone I tially mined for its economic value, but now the ‘underground space is more profitable than the stone tion of underground space has become the primary ‘mining, and the sale of rock is used to offset twenty-foot square pillars are carved out at regular intervals, spaced thirty feet apart. Brunson Instrument Company was the first to occu- Py underground space mined to its specifications. The company, ‘manufacturers of surveying equipment used on the moon, was ham. ppered by the vibrations in its original location at the surface. Preci- sion settings could be done only between 2:00 and 4:00 a.n.. when trafic vibrations were minimal. In 1960 the firm occupied its pre- sent quarters, 140,000 square feet of vibra mn-free space, seventy- The advantages of underground space in Kansas City are many. Rents and overhead are low: rents average 40 percent below those at "struction. During this process, 1g and cooling are 75 to 80 percent below surface he relative humidity is easily rst underground freezer was built in Kansas City for frozen food age. Cheap storage, access to transpor by the excavation profit" The city of Phoenix, Arizona, coordinated the progressi ‘once flat landscape and a flood- caping were added after the landjill opera- ih a mineral conservation district to protect deposits. Interim uses within the district screen their opera: ‘ruck trafic which rooted—a porous FINDING FIRM GROUND AND EXPLOITING RESOURCES, 119FINDING FIRM GROUND AND EXP! he late nineteenth century to provide poor families with a means Jr own food. gardens were also wide- dre the outgrowth of spontaneous communi Myirect result of community organizing by groups such as the ston Urban i's Green Guerillas. Such have provided a common ground for all ages, races, and eth- z groups: the old and the young, black and white, Puerto Rican ms Chinese. In Boston, elderly emigrants from the rural south who valued knowledge about growing crops draw new respect lots supply some urban gardeners and inter. Family grocery bills have been cut by as much as in urban gardening has come contamination of urban soils. In Boston, the local University of Massachusetts Ex- Service, and the Boston Urban Gardeners resulted in an ef- for how urban ts should be 1 soil, chances of removing it are slim. The tof lead a vegetable absorbs depends upon the acidity of soil , the more readily be added to raise FIGURE 5.3 Community gardens in Boston, converted from derelict land on vacant lot. ging garden soil in preparation for spring planting triggers strong, ‘emotions: a sense of connection to the earth, to the regeneration of grown within fifty feet of a major street or in soils containing any amount of lead. Root crops, carrots, radishes, beets, onions, and tur~ jon and should Urban gardening has always been popular in Europe. Every medieval town had its orchards and kitchen gardens. Tod: leftover land along railroad tracks and streams are divided i ‘ment gardens, and acres of tiny plots are laid out outskirts, ‘Vacant lots in the center of American cities were cultivated intensely ‘plants, tomatoes, squat Aightheaded or protect sunflowers, corn, and cabbage fare the least likely to take up soil lead. They can be grown in soils ‘with a moderate lead content, but should be grown in containers if peppers—and ITING RESOURCES| ! | the soil has a high lead content. Only flowers and ornamental planty should be grown in soil with very high lead levels. All vegetables ‘grown in urban gardens should be washed thoroughly to remove any heavy metals that have settled in the dust from the air. Children should not be permitted to play in the soils igh, oF very high lead content.” Urban soil represents an underutilized resource of great potential, capable of producing high yields of both food and ornamental plants and of assimilating non-toxic wastes, Managed wisely, urban soil can enhance the survival of plants in an urban landscape (see chapter 9). Designing a Safer, More Economical City ‘The cities of California, their population threatened by multiple geological hazards, provide many examples of enlightened urban planning and design. In recent decades, the provided its cities with mandat and information to fornia Department of Conserva- tion issued the Urban Geology Master Plan for California, a publication by state and local gow- fied the resources endangered by urban development, defined the ‘measures available to mitigate those proble in California alone between 1970 and the year 2000, and reports on shaking, loss of mi expansive soils, faul ards, and subsidence. art mitigation techniques would save over $38 billion between 1970 and the year 2000 at a cost of little more than rapid urban growth, a short- geological hazards—earthquakes, tsuna- and volcanic eruptions—has also accomplishments. Beginning in 1959 with a subsoil map of Tokyo, Japanese cities have constructed an Fea Benet Cost Ratio a Messe Were ‘Applied end se Reductions Ire Achieved A Poste Datar amount ‘Sato he Ar Perenage of Esimaed Tol Con of ‘Appling All ese Messe, 8 Curent Total Lee 1,000,00,000 oter Amount $10317;00,000 TABLE 52 Projected Losses Due to Geological Problems in California and Potential Loss Reduction, forthe period 1970-2000" Poste Toa Les Reduction Appying All Feasibie Mesures Perenareof Toa ese ng ie mae the 1970 typ, eevee of aplcatn of peeve and ened ot woud ben rt a Gay, “Uihan Grotogy Mase ian or CaileraA Sumeary” In Ges Uren Eons apa orgs 178) unten hat nha Projected Toul Los, ‘thou Improvement 850,000,000 1532,00,000 '565,00,000| Pais and Practice $21,035,000000, of excing 17,000,00,000 GesopclProtiem Earthquake shaking i Ineo BO ard © B.Mekonn aD Fy nares 190 dar Los of mineral resources Landing Souk JOT Allo, ob Bnet. nd Thomas "hee wae ar ed the 8 sean Newey fro owing fee iii ny isi Enon atty Expansive slsEarth 124 in each city. A special comi appointed by the Japanese Ministry of Construction, published a se \ for Collection and Arrangement of Pre-Existing Ma cluding hospitals, schools, andl public util try and housing Tonservation districts for the city's most significant land encou ‘ses which would ot prechde ese investigations, resulting in an invaluable series esti ei ea of urban geological records. extraction provide 2 plan for the eventual reuse of mineral conservation districts her resources have been exploited very new building street, and park within the city should be designed to prevent oF mitigate hazards and to conserve and restore feourees. Every project should Blan fen Ere reste gop hazards and ecu which exon he se and init inedate neighborhood idngs and pice conection 0 expt mi the nature of the ground beneat and design buildings and landscaping to avoid or mitigate hazards tn dramatic problems must prot ee 's distinctive geological character ive studies of urban geology svery city should assess the nature of t at lies Be a es “ Peer eae Japan and in states like beneath it ‘The greatest obstacle to preparing a comprehensive plan respond to the city’s geology and soi patte city to city depending on the nature of the ground beneath. Are th attendant landslides or are there ext! ing the spatial pattern of hazards and mineral resources wi single out those places where the degree of risk is most severe and where the exploitation of mineral deposits is in conflict urbanization. ‘Some issues are best addressed nificance of any individual be assessed in relation to hensive strategy to stat sources should: FINDING FIRM GROUND AND EXPLOITING RESOURCESPART IV WaterFloods, Droughts, cand Poisoned Water oe & OISONED WATER, floods and droughts plague the city. Brown Toaded with sewage, sediment, bits of garbage, and poisonous micals flow through the city, a dirty soup from which many cities jaw their drinking water. In some years, floods alone account for ted States than any other single natu- creasingly common urban phenome- humid climates, must soon face the loss t precious resource—an abundant supply of uncontami- he city’s life blood: it drives industries, heats and cools , nurtures food, quenches thirst, and carries waste. Cities import water than all other goods and combined. Sufficient essential for life. De- the fact they are for- it, Every rain sweeps into rivers and lakes, The storm sewers which drain the city’s ‘surface aggravate floods and prevent groundwater recharge, lowered stream flows concentrate pollutants, Even density of urban form and the patter of settlement and CHAPTER 6 19Water nage network, and the design of the age and flood control system produce a characterst regime, Abundant and rapid storm stream flows during and immedi flow between them. Pavement and lower the level of water beneath the ground. Urban activities and their location, and urban form and materials, influence the degree of flooding and where it occurs, the degree of pollution and where itis concentrated, and the amount of water consumed. The characteristics of urban water dynat ig and storm drainage, water polla- » and water supply separately. Increased Floods All but the largest creeks and streams of the pre-city landscape hhave vanished from a modern map. Covered and forgotten, old streams still flow through the city buried beneath the ground in large pipes, primary channels of a subterranean storm system, Their ‘mutfled roar can still be heard beneath the street after a heavy rain; they are invisible, but their potential contribution to downstream floods is nevertheless unabated and magnified. Floods increase in magnitude and destructiveness with each increment of urban ‘can increase the mean annual flood by as runoff and narrower, shal- ‘The concrete, stone, brick, and asphalt of pavement and buildings cap the city’s surface with a waterproof seal. Unable to penetrate the ground and unimpeded by the city's smooth surface, the rain which lazas, streets, and parking lots runs off the surface in the city increase storm water runoff the most; runoff decreases in the space of time. Storm sewers transport wa er; they do not reduce or eliminate wa location. Traditional storm drainage practice protects local st basements, and parking lots from flooding, while contributing to ‘major flood damage downstream ood of the Mississippi River at St. Louis w: to the flood of 1908; yet the flood waters were more than eight feet higher in 1973, The 1973 flood was the highest in the 189 years that also made shallower, asa by-product of other hum. struction and demolition expose soil to erosion, and carries sediment into streams. A construction site produces ten to fone hundred times the amount of eroded sediment that is produced by farms and forests.” More than 4,500 tons of soil was eroded dur- ing a five-year period from asi FLOODS, DROUGHTS, AND POISONED WATER 131ee ‘4 property when these flood protection ly heavy ra FIGURE 6.1 Floodplain dynamics. Rivers overflow onto thelr floodplains with predicable frosency and structures bul within the Roodplain ara risk destruction fs subjected, and two times every year, the river fills it | brimming to the banks; about once every two years, the in to the depth of the average flow ik destruction, but also cripple the ‘ood waters. In some cities, J wn development occupy much in Charleston, South Cai an aggravate t aoe ar ty alt to protect them, The reliance upon massive ins cy comine andthe proportion af hat aren engineering works, like dams and levees, minimizes the damage FLOODS, DROUGHTS, AND POISONED WATER 133,Water oped varies from city to city. Eighty-one percent of Montoe, Louis. ana, and 40 percent of Charleston, South Carolina, lie within the floodplain, while floodplain comprises on Spokane, Washington." The design of a city’s storm drainage system can ag aggravate oF alleviate flood haz er stormwater reaches streams and rivers, the mote foods increase; the more stormwater i retarded, the more floods are reduced, ‘The effect of a storm drainage not limited 10 food hag. ard; it can also increase water 1d water use. Typically, the storm drainage system aggravates pollution by sewage and runoff after storms and by decreasing tween storms so that discharges from industry and treatment planty are undiluted. Cities that draw their water supply from urban riven rust then contend with vacillating flows and increased contamina. tion. When sewage water systems are combined, as they are in many older cities, the surge of stormwater following a rain frequently overwhelms the capacity of sewage treatment plants, #9 that both rainwater and untreated sewage dump directly into water bodies. Since the ground, sealed by pavement and drained by pipes, absorbs litle water, the amount of water stored in the ground, fom which plants obtain their supply, is reduced. The lowered ground. is insufficient to maintain stream levels between storms and sustain plants during dry spells. “Monster Soup commonly called Thames water, Being a correc representation ‘of that precious stuff doled out to us. Microcosm dedicated to the London Water Company.” A cartoon by Paul Pry, 1829. Poisoned Water int were hung to combat the stench of the river." A century later, in the 1950s, the Thames was still so polluted that it was virtually fish- less for a forty-three mile stretch in the proximity of London.” ineteenth-century European and frequency. Cholera epidemics in 1832, 1848, 1849, 1853, and 1854. Cholera killed 3,500 New Yorkers between June and October ‘of 1832; during the height of the epidemic, 100,000 people, approxi- mately half the population, fled New York." Pathogenic organ- isms—bacteria, protozoa, worms, viruses, and fungi—are responsi- © ble for outbreaks of waterborne diseases, The dis ‘outbreak to polluted water from a single wel ‘water and disease was definitively established. London, both the Crown and the City attemy ineffectively to halt pollution of the Thames, but to be an open sewer (figure 6.2)." The Thames w: river in 1855, when Michael Faraday complained in a I Times that “the whole of the river was an opaque pale brown fluid ... near the bridges the feculence rolled up in clouds so dense that they. typhoid fever, to intestinal parasites and skin rashes, M {gens enter surface water via human and animal feces. Inade‘ treated sanitary sewage and urban runoff account for nearly 135Water HTS, AND POISONED WATER uman health than do pathogen: aquatic life and may produce sm 1e city’s dog population contributes an enormous load of to urban runoff, The water near storm and sani- sphorus reach rivers and lakes in large quant after a storm, sa prolific bloom of algae that chokes waterways 4nd produce an unpleasa jre oxygen. and the most sei of the past has been laid to rest in the twentieth century by sewage treatment and the chlorination of public water supplies, but new ‘the water pollution problem varies F industries, the degree and type of air rage treatment and storm drainage wre, or other cities {gradual and cumulative, The diseases they generate and the genetic ‘change they precipitate will not become fully evident for years, at near the mouths of major rivers, downstream of toxic pollutants,” including heavy metals, pesticides, and organic | sources. The fate of New Orleans’ water supply toxicants, Many are poisonous even in extremely small concentra- ow doses over a long period of time can cause neuro- jages, and birth defects. Extremely of heavy metals, pesticides, and It to detect and to remove from water.® The existence of so many toxicai their measurement and impact. Toxic chemi modern industrial processes, agricultural pr safe for drinking water in one- in Philadelphia, Charlotte, Roanoke, Oma- combines with some organic pol jie compounds. Mercury is a problem in all of the twelve major States river basins processes waste more effectively, urban runoff is emerging jor source of toxic pollutants infall sweeps the | ind debris of the city streets into storm sewers, and with it heavy metals and other toxic materials, oil, and grease. ‘Turbidity and warmer temperatures, the increase of nutrient salts protection of aquatic life" Concent ium also exceeded the proposed EPA criteria for water the samples. ate and precipitation patterns, its underlying, 137Water conditions, the character of water circulations in its riv. -ams, lakes, ponds, and marshes, the types of land uses occu. ying flood-prone areas, the pattern of its sewage system, and its influence where, when, and how wa. oo diluted. Lakes may be more sus- lation time, the time it takes the wa the size of the lake's drainage basin, the it receives, and the depth and surface area of the time determines how susceptible the lake or pond to contamination, and the more difficult its recovery. Urban and marinas, whether on lakes or rivers, are protected from fore, like small lakes and ponds, they are highly sensitive tion. Trash and other pollutants accumulate in slips and can: receive litle fushing. Although lakes and rivers are generally more contaminated than groundwater, they exhibit pollution more quickly and respond to sion of sea water of saline groundwater are increasingly polluting, groundwater. The pollution of groundwater by hazardous waste now threatens the public water supplies of Tampa, Florida, and At- them as yet Dwindling Water Supplies Without water, a city cannot survive, Disputes over water rights were among the most bitter and violent struggles in the history of the American West. Today, cities separated by a third of a contini wer and Lot Angeles, dispute the use ofthe same Rocky Moun- in water. Within the next decade, many cites will face major pes Peitne combination of contamination and lowered groundwater has Broys threatened city water supplicn ed wells, and garbage and sewage pol ves, a death rate of fery 100,000 citizens. Chicago cut is death rate by almost 90 percent by diverting its sewage away ym Lake Michigan.” The construction of the Chicago Drainage al in 1900 reversed the flow of the Chicago River, so that sewage fed to the Mississippi River. This proved a fine solution for Chi jer opted to abandon local ‘The alteration of the city’s hydrology by pavement and sewers ‘been recognized well before the twentieth century. Benjami lin left a legacy to the city of Philadelphia, recommending tha used to secure a public water supply. His will, read in Philadelphia in 1790, stated: ‘And having considered that the covering of the ground-plot of the city with buildings and pavements, which carry off most of the rain, and prevents its soaking int the Earth and renewing and pu hundred years, f not dane before, the corporation ofthe city Employ a part of the hundred thousand pounds in bringing by pipes the water ofthe Wissa- hickon Creek into town, s0 as to supply the inhabitants... prophecy regarding the pollution of urban wells was Brooklyn, New York. From its initial settlement until jon by drilled to ever-increasing depths. By tion of sewers and pavement of streets, borne out 1947, Brooklyn depended on well water. To avoid contami 1947. With pumping halted, the water table gradually rose again, ooding basements and subway tunnels constructed when the water table was lower and causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. Brooklyn, like many suburban communities whose wells FLOODS, DROUGHTS, AND POISONED WATER 139Water have become contaminated, tied into the larger metropolitan way nc apliance ike washing machines, andthe popularity of « supply system, further increasing the demand for distant wat in the remainder of mode! ing and accounts for over a third of the water demand, , but may represent a much greater proportion in some Commercial and public use of water and water lost through lea ground pipes account for the remainder. The amount of through leaks is probably equal to the sum of all publ and water for rely on local groundwater alone—Miami, his, Of the remaining thirty-two, fifteen ‘or water from major rivers, and twelve garner wa tion of sources, often importing water from great distances” for water but also with log Supply has never kept p water buildings, swimming pools, and fountains. plies and flooding repre- ‘and safety of city resi- le-quarters of our body, of every citizen so intimately ‘operate, as they have through- th marginal water systems. Cities respond to each water from the Quabbin Valley in central Massachusetts sixty-i miles away; and Los Angeles diverts some of its water from 1 Colorado River, with its source on the west slope of the Rocky ‘Mountains over six hundred miles away. As growing, dispersed to appropriate distant water supplies. the same time urban water supplies are threatened by contam 1, water is squandered. Americans have lon x capita than Europeans. The average per capi land seven other European cities was only ter sprinklers irigate plants. A wat trees and lawns proliferates in the parks of cities in ‘used more water ‘use in London, gallons per day before World War Il. During that same period, fverage daily consumption in ten American cities was 155 gallon four times that amount." By 1975, per capita water use th fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. oxic heavy metals and organic chemicals represent the greatest sites are located on aquifer recharge areas, and contaminants ep into groundwater. Storm sewers deliver their complement of cants to surface water. 6 gallons to flush an average .d 20 to 30 gallons to run a washing machine. A leaky dripping one drip per second wastes 4 gallons per day. Watering: ‘garden of 8,000 square feet requires 80 gallons a day in a hum ‘climate and 500 gallons per day in an arid climate.* Uncontaminated fresh water is a diminishing resource. Us drinking water to flush toilets and water lawns is a scandalo waste. Increased industrial demand for water, the invention of d new development ‘crowd and constrict the floodplain, the magnitude of flood ‘and the damages it inflicts increase. Cities must manage their F resources more wisely. At stake is suv if FL0008, DROUGHTS, AND POISONED WATER MiCHAPTER 7 (CONTROLLING AND RESTORING THE WATERS Controlling and Restoring the Waters W.. is a source of life, power, comfort, and delight, a uni- versal symbol of purification and renewal. Like a primordial magnet, water pulls at a primitive and deeply rooted part of human nature. More than any other single element besides trees and gardens, water hhas the greatest potential to forge an emotional link between man and. nature in the city. Water is an element of wondrous Urban cvlizations have long grappled with the problems of water supply and use, sewage disposal, storm drainage, and flood preven- ‘An abundance of potable water is a crucial concem of all cities. To this concer, we owe some of the greatest architectural monuments of ‘human history and some of the most impressive engineering works: the aqueducts of Rome and Nimes and the aqueducts, bringing water from ten to fity-nine Imperial Rome with approximately 35 million gallons o day.? The aqueducts delivered wa and conservation. The comprehensive, natural drainage system of 143Water ine of the sources of water pollution—factories, sewage treat- plants, erosion from construction sites, urban runoff from Zewers, and the fallout of dust from the air—can be pinpointed the discharge from as vers are more diffuse. 1 sources are readily monitored and regulated, One can identi- ‘Woodlands, Texas, a new to plifies the advantages of cot water quality, and water conservation in a single scheme. Whatever the scale—from the design of a drain or a fountain to a plan for an entire metropolitan region—the key to devising efficient, effective, and economical solutions is an understanding of the many ways | ‘water moves through the city. jrty miles north of Houston, exem- sing storm drainage, flood contro} Water in Motion “All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is never full; unto the place from whence hydrologic cycle is a grand process by which rain absorbed by the earth and the plants that grow in it and runs into Streams and oceans, then evaporates, returning once more to the ait, ‘The power of the sun and the force of gravity drive the hydrologic ycle. The way water moves through the hydrologic cycle deter- jon of water supplies, the occurrence of floods, and the fate of contaminants disposed of to the air, water, or land. Only a fraction of the rain that falls on rural woods and fields runs rapidly into streams, rivers, and lakes. Leaves intercept some rain, land soll soaks up much of the remainder. Of the water that soaks into the soil, some is sucked up by plants and later returned to the ty, since most of the suspended solids settle out rand many of the nutrients, oil, and grease are sr moves through the soil, oring Floodwaters past decade has seen a profusion of outstanding, innovative gaches to flood control by American cities. Rooftops, plazas, ing lots, and parks have been designed to store stormwater, and ‘and wetlands in the headwaters preserved for their natural ly through the soil, the soil’s surface, and the remainder moves s ‘as groundwater, Groundwater may eventually intersect the land's ‘surface at stream beds and springs or may remain deep beneath the ‘surface in vast underground reservoirs or aquifers (see figure 7.10). Only on steep slopes, on bare rock or ice, or when the soil is saturat- ced, does water run off the ground’s surface. The great capacity of soil land the organisms within it to absorb water and to filter and use the elements suspended or prevents floods, protects ‘water quality, and conserves and restores water supplies. ‘Traditional urban storm drainage systems short-circuit this por- ton of the hydrologic cycle, with disastrous results. Some cities have ik in the cycle by retaining storm- ; others have merely in the acquisition ds and minimizing the destruction they wreak 1 whether designing a rooftop to pond and detain rain wa undeveloped urban wetlands as parkland to soak up yhether designing a pedestrian Aoodwaters or establishing land. CONTROLLING AND RESTORING THE WATERS 45CONTROLLING AND RESTORING THE WATERS shaped depres- The configuration 7Water 148 and size of the # re basin permitted the amount of water to double without raising the water level more than a few feet; during | foods, twenty additional acres could be covered with water. Gen! sloping banks and an irregularly shaped edge reduced waves. A tid gate at the entry to the Charles River regulated the flow of the tides to prevent flooding and to enhance flushing of the basin. Part of Olmsted's plan was the restoration of marsh; he planted the banks of the basin with plants that could tolerate both and brackish water and withstand changing water levels. Ola. the juxtaposition of salt marsh and the look of a landscape that had always been there. largely due to the sheer quan! the Riverway had the appear ting the city (figure 7.3). De- roadway above and the path below, lof modern Boston. The Muddy River survives more intact than the Fens. After the Charles River Dam the tides in enhancing water circulation, and ult dumping ground for fill from the subway and other projects. ‘Chicago, built on a fat plain only slightly higher than Lake Mich- § 8°, ly slightly hig) gan, has been plagued by drainage and flooding problems throughs out its history and has responded with ingenious solutions. In the! ‘mid 1800s Chicago raised its street level twelve feet, jacked up and elevated existing buildings, and installed a new storm sewer system. | ‘After 12 percent of the city’s pop FIGURE 7.2 ‘The Riverway, Boston, ca 1892, showing graded embankments ready FIGURE 73 ‘The Riverway a wholly “natural ‘mound and ola ight. 8 mound separates the paWater (CONTROLLING AND RESTORING THE WATERS typhoid, and dysentery contracted from a polluted water suppl Chicago established an aut tan Sanitary District th flood control and rec: lope to playfields and vol remain in the first lake for anyw! they can be treated in the processing bog ‘gan down the slopes of a large earthen mound at the corner of the basin and skate on an ice rink created by flooding a large, paved area Parking lots, which account for much of the open, paved land in i ‘American cities, can also be designed to detain or even retain storm. where a section of the lot can hold up to two feet of wat dated Freightways in St. Louis, Missouri, constructed its parking lot to detain storm flows and netted a $35,000 savings in the cost of the storm drainage system.’ Outside the downtown, in less dense parts of the city, it may be preferable to retain water long enough for it to infiltrate the soil. Porous pavement—porous asphalt, modular pav- ravel—over well-drained soils or in combination with dry ‘wells will permit more rainfall to soak into the ground rather than rrun off into storm sewers. A pavement of lattice concrete blocks, with soil and grass in the interstices, is widely used in European cities, and has been employed in parts of some American cities such ‘as Los Angeles and Dayton (see figure 3.11). wildlife habitat and recreation (see ling Austin, Texas, have experiment- lands to treat sewage effluents. Restoring and Conserving Water he resort's pasture and garden (figure {an unusual amenity water-poor landscape. Is and cascades through, 151152 CONTROLLING AND RESTOR! plants from dehydrat the city heighten lof the Mediterranean and the physical prope! ie qualities of water with great econo- ‘A Persian garden accomplishes a great emotional and aesthetic th only a trickle of water. The subtle, refined, and profound in the Hispano-Islamic garden makes a 100-foot elsewhere seem a vulgar display of power. An art that oped over the course of thousands of years and spread with the joslem religion west across North Africa to Spain and east to Paki- Gan and India, the Islamic garden takes many forms. Each form, jever, reflects the inspired manipulation of water, employing the {and sound of water to engender a cool atmosphere of serenity d retreat. Water cascades down sculpted channels or through into brimming basins. Slight variations in the shape of channel produce wave patterns that catch the Water may appear precious, like a gem, as Water may bubble up from below the surface, or trace a grace- ‘arc, of flow as a sheet over a molded edge. Water-poor cities conserve their water by reservi laces or protected spaces w! fe importance of these places Park owes much of its success as an urban retreat to the con- the courtyards, The garden so exploits the many FIGURE 7.4 ‘A rocky cascade at Bishop's Lodge, New Mexico, pat of a man-made s ‘of waterfalls and sculpted channels designed to teat sewage effluent The water cascades landscaping and mounds screen the an importas Ions of wel of treated sewage efflue waste treatment that is beautiful as well as economical. Irrigation is used routinely to maintain lawns and trees in the city | but as water shortages increase, the city must explore a more water: J conserving and drought that arose in the urban civilizations of the arid and semi surrounding the Mediterranean offers many models for the moder city, for example, the protected courtyard garden or patio. The court yards nurture lush vegetation with minimal irrigation by protecting 1n to irrigate the may be recaptured when water shortages in force the college to reduce irriga temperate, humid climate, enough rain sup- Ft a diverse community of plants without irrigation, so long as ‘water is permitted to infiltrate the soil and plants are protected ym winds and radiant heat, Chestnut Park in downtown Philadel- 153‘CONTROLLING AND RESTORING THE WATERS and economi ‘undisturbed, .d and landscaped with plant chin the park seeps between A deep layer of gravel ben inage device and as a reservo! roots can absorb it and preventing roots from becoming logged. The plants have flourished and require no irrigation. Mé while, the park contributes no stormwater runoff to the Designing the City to Conserve and Restore Water and to Prevent Floods tive method of preserving their flood lected seventeen natural storage areas, ‘The prevention of floods and the conservation and restoration of lems at one place may be generated somewhere else, and a solution to the water supply problem may, in the end, aggravate water poll tion. The most effective, efficient, and economical solutions to urban 2 é é i 3 ‘The Charles River watershed is the most densely populated river basin in New England. Its headwaters are sparsely developed, but “ eae the cities of Boston and Cambridge crowd the banks of its lower basin. The US. Army Corps of Engineers, in a 1965 flood control study of the Charles River watershed, concluded that a new dam must be built across the mouth of the Charles River to control flood ing from urban runoff in the lower basin and that over the next thirty to forty years flood-control measures upstream must be taken to prevent flooding in the lower basin. They estimated that up- stream flood-control structures would cost $100 million and, instead, recommended an action requiring one-tenth the cost: ‘The flood contro! management plan recommended by this Corps’ study calls for federal acquis valley storage a ling some 8,500 acres. The logic of the scheme is compelling, Nature has already provided the least cost solution to future ‘ooding i the form of extensive wetlands which moderate extreme highs and lows in steam flow. Rather than attempt to improve on this natural protection enue ven ©OO © OO©0©OHOOOHOOOOOHO Ure letr ee egege{ ge area in summer, with both the Charles River and adja: y visible, ‘CONTROLLING AND RESTORI ‘of Engincers made the first purchase in 1977, ginership of the land, and the Massachusetts Fisher refug Denver, Colorado, is an outstanding example of a Implemented a comprehensive, coordinated set /four independent local governments had employed .ods for calculating flood risks and for designing the 1m drainage systems. Some had designed storm others had pro- to flood control and storm drainage, 3 storm drainag for master planning of between five and ten projects aid has been requested by local governments, The "¢ multijurisdictional, and local governments must ‘one hundred-year floodplain, prepares an outline of the work to ig engineers on behalf of the local smnments. The studies cover an entire drainage basin, rather than smeal projects. The mast spells out where flood problems ‘of such projects as st channel improve- ts, and check dams along streams to create ponds and slow am flow. The city and county of Denver now require proper 157Water year, brought the issue of the 1 inder the pub- lic eye again. A nine-member task force, the Platte River Develop. ‘ment Committee, appointed by Denver's mayor and backed by over Wn in seed money from the city, proceeded to lay plans for yney from public and private sources, snd punctuated by igned to create white ts. Competitions are snge Run” and slalom kayak 18.Gotevile Landing The Greenway Foundation Berne Colerose 00202 GasesWater CONTROLLING AND RESTORING THE WATERS ich had blocked floodwaters and increased flood depth, were pools, din the jon of paths, boat chutes, and bank improve- channel Platte was excavated and large boulders and rock, eater across the river from Confluence Park was placed to create a deeper stream during periods of low river flow. | from river debris and the ruins of a bridge demol- ‘now released from the upstream Chatfield Dam, 2 major d by the 1973 flood. Pedestrian bridges, which ‘recreation slugs” timed to enhance river |) Pat in other parts of the flow for water sports during peak weekend recreation periods. The many new parks along the Platte provide places to launch boats and to watch their progress through the chutes and slalom _| run, The Platte River Development Committee built the first park along the confluence of Cherry . South Platte River, where the city of Denver was original | | The large, terraced plaza of Confluence Park steps down to the river and provides an overview of part of Engineers designed the shape of the plaza and the opposite bank storage. The grading for a new bicycle | ha smooth profile to p resistance to floodwaters, f= Park, for example, was based on flood hydraul designed the foun: the river's hydrodynamic [ increased use of the river for walking, bicycling, and boating, fany sources of water pol snks as a consequence: a dump has been converted to a 1: FIGURE 78 sve; highway maintenance yard piled with salt and sand has Confluence Park, a flood-proof plaza neat the heart of downtown Denver, |) fecome Frog Hollow Park. Pressure has been brought upon the city sifording a place to launch rafts and Kayaks and an overview ofthe slalom Ese as ping cise eeceplite td sols tntan’soend xt trer ‘residential neighborhoods bordering the South Platte, several of them Denver's poorest, have gained new parks and a river environ- int free from former nuisances and hazards. [The Platte River “Greenway” was accomplished through the coor- inated efforts of public and private organi te. The alternative, upgrading the existing storm sewer system t062 {in downtown Denver ponds sradually. There is space to det Inches of stormwater, tormwater even in the meet accommodate the increased runoff, would have been prohibitively expensive and would have increased flooding in the nearby So Platte River. Developers have used a combination of rooftops, pla, as, and parking lots to detain stormwater, Roofs in the Denver area are designed to support a snow load inches of water. Engineers designed a “detention ring” to ft around the drain of a flat roof, which ponds up to then releases it atthe rate of one-half inch per hour. A safety feature permits a severe storm to overflow the ring, Denver-area plazas and parking lots have been designed to store stormwater runoff with ‘minimal inconvenience to pedestrians (Sgure 7:9). One depressed, downtown Denver plaza, constructed above three floors of under. ground parking, accommodates runoff from the ten-year storm; stormwater drains directly to the sewer at the rate of one inch per hour. Ponding does not disrupt use of the plaza, since elevated por. tions of the plaza permit pedestrians to walk across it when lower Portions are flooded, fisting building codes in most American cities require that roofs zigned to withstand the equivalent of six inches of water over a period (us ted rooftop detention of stormws ind thus decrease energy incorporated into roof garden yecome an aesthetic amenity, ture. He forme Corporation and hired a1 zens of consultants. By 1971, when snning study and parallel ma re complete and a eral plan for the new town was underway, water had emerged as F the critical factor. The Woodlands’ “natural its the capacity of natural, and recharges the aquifer that underlies neighboring Houston (figure 7.10). The wooded floodplain, drainage channels, Jand recharge soils form a townwide open-space system, a natural nage system that represents a substantial savings over the cost of jorm sewer system. When it was ori 1 cost of the natural drainage od that tural drainage system would save the developer over $14 163CONTROLLING AND RESTORING THE WATERS along which they move, The wooded ease- larger floodplain network drains runoff from major soils and ponds absorb or store rain close t0 in private yards or in nearby parks. This local [xjacuren | SGever soversenr EBiavcuce [Ml nverow neue FIGURE 7.10 indelyig ‘Woodlands, Texas, The new town of Wood: ‘would continue t9 soak into the ground ty ine aquifers, from which nearby Houston sidence under the city of Houston (see chapter 4). The fim of Wa lace McHarg Roberts and Todd, landscape architects and ecological planners, conceived a natural drainage system to resolve these prob lems and enable the developer to retain hs vision of the future it.” | led deer, opossum, armadillos, bobcats, and many BooseWater ¥ overflows? Are extremes of high flows and low flows a problem, or (ying the areas at most ris! produced a new town with the appearance of having lite " development in Houston.” St lity of urban runoff in the phase one portion town is much better than that of other Houston residential areas, 9. Nine inches of rain fell within five the Woodlands flooded although adja- Woodlands is and wil to be a showpiece of drainage de- sign, from the most mundane details of pavement and channel de- sign to the coordination of soils, ponds, swales, and floodplains into {a comprehensive drainage system, A Plan for Every City ‘The successful management of water in the city will require com- prehensive efforts, many individual actions, and the perception that storm drainage, flood control, water supply, water conservation, waste disposal, and sewage treatment are all facets of a much broad: tem, Every city should construct a framework within which the consequences of major metropolitan efforts and the cumu- {ng on regional climate, topographic setting, pol urban form. Do floods threaten a major portion of the city; and is development upstream the greater problem or constriction of the floodplain within the city? Is the city’s water supply threatened by pollution of groundwater or surface water, or by com} inds with other towns and cities in the region? Are lar industi- al pollutors the problem, or combined sanitary and storm sewage limited water circ hazard and those that current devising a comprehensi major sources of water water or have the poten: and the areas that are most sensitive (0 ifer recharge areas, headwater streams, to preserve those resources to prevent floods and conserve and restore water pollution, lakes, and ponds, ‘A comprehensive pl the city’s water should: water resources, both those currently ‘apply and those mth poten to satsty ncessing + locate new parks and other landscaped open space to preserve flood storage in the headwaters and the floodplain downstream, and to en hance recharge of groundwater + encourage new industry, waste disposal sites, and other polluting land uses to locate outside Noodplains and groundwater recharge areas that are highly vule« pollution 18 outside flood-prone areas and encourage ‘the visibility of water in the city as well as publi access Every new building, street, parking lot, and park within the city should be designed to prevent or mitigate flooding and to conserve and restore water resources. Every project should: tionship between the project's ste and the city’s citcal pollution, and water supply problems, as well as specific hazards’ and resources that exist on the site and in its immediate eighborhood| + ste and design buildings and landscaping to avoid flood damage pt 3f rooftops, plazas, parking lots, and the earth to de tain o retain stormurater eunoff (CONTROLLING AND RESTORING THE WATERS. 167Water parks in floodplains to store floodwater and withstand flood ity parks and private grounds will acquire a landscape. The use of water in public spaces will be impact will be powerful. In the next decade, the dilapidated, outmoded water supply, wastewater treatment, and storm drainage systems in many older ‘American cities will have to be overhauled. This will entail the penditure of billions of dollars and considerable upheaval in dense turban centers. Short-term expediency must not prevail; the oppor nity for redesign must be seized.CHAPTER 8 rban Plants: Struggle for Survival I HE STREET TREE is an endangered species. A large, landscaped smidcity park is a white elephant, easy prey to municipal building schemes, In 1970, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Dayton cut down more trees than they planted. Detroit removed 10,623 trees in that year and. planted only 2,457." Many mourn the row of elms, but few and disappearance of from city streets and city parks is going virtually unnoticed, cities be hotter, dirtier, less attractive, with more devastating , more erosion, and poorer water quality, as a direct to mature; yet in the city it residences decline. Newly planted street trees do little or ‘mitigate the damage. One can only pray for their survival land wait another thirty years wiLife 172 Today the great nineteenth-century parks, havens of cy tres, ae | ronmental dificulties, In 1870, the potential of the Fens and in decay, Trees set apart on a mown lawn ey are not being replaced by merely tes of twentet-cetury buildings and prtng lof {or peck adminieraton, Roricalturlsodees, museum 2008 tel f contemporary and future resident of ‘green on any city’s land-use map are mis plants, Trees play only a minor, decorative role in most recent down- ygmented and tarnished, its town parks. 4 its bridle paths and prome- City plants are a natural resource, but human function and fashion | ad in decay. The Emerald Neck: are often more influential than natural processes in determining the ce 1e nineteenth century and the location and arrangement of plants, Activites, urban forms and mate- the infrastructure of central cities create new habitats ith each part fitted to its location, is at the root of 3 and has led to gross mismanagement to adjacent houses, were widened and converted t mnse to the demand for more highways linking Pguburbs. Pedestrians must dash across rushing traffic to reach be rang, oarow iatnds with teen, The eater lnk between maintenance, and, to compound the problem, new park equally high maintenance. City officials shave pennies in the tion of new tres, but buen dollars removing those trees after they die. | [A squandered legacy, hostile habitats, an expensive aesthetic and ne- lected resources may eventually lead to barren cities. | wee years. The newly instal ently that the trees had to be watered with trucks and hoses the Mall were nearly ‘The city built an of approximately, A Vanishing Legacy In 1890, a Bostonian could walk down from the State House through the Common and the Public Garden, up Commonwealth ‘Avenue Mall, around the Fens and along the Riverway, past Leverett land Jamaica Ponds, through rows of trees along the Arborway, to the Arnold Arboretum and Franklin Park. The designer, Frederick ‘night. The abundant irrig yas only a few feet above sea level, Law Olmsted, considered this linked system of parks and parkways, ‘called the “Emerald Necklace,” among his finest work. At the turn of the century it was unrivaled anywhere in the United States. ‘The Emerald Necklace was a hard-won prize, achieved by repeat: led lobbying and negotiations to overcome financial, political, and the exception. Those respon- street trees often do not value URBAN PLANTS: STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL 173,Life them or know how to care for them. In some cities, respons resides in the Department of Public W jon room. Olmsted fore, ‘Poor maintenance as the od to ings a {Breatest threats to inner-city parks, and fied. If every project proposed for Cent ther proposals have included grave " is, and even an opera house. Only the Metropol, ‘was actually constructed* rester’s efforts may be nullified. In izens blocked the city tees as a renewable resource. The harvest ailing street and park trees while they we thereby paying bo iseased and dying trees with dead branches in approximately one-half or more of the crown, warvested. The forester selected 133 walnut and oak trees for cutting, and the city invited bids from private ighest bid was over $127, park department planned to spend $17,000 for re tery in the ensuing controversy, private citi- Sierra Club and Audubon Society chap- the city. Two experts from the Ohio Nati sustain city vegetation wa of preservation versus management divides the ranks of environ. ‘mentalists It must be addressed and resolved. Letting nature take highway departments where most by virtue of human tan overabundance; in either case, their ability to deliver essential nutrients to the tree is drastically reduced. The precarious balance be ‘and extinction is easil upset. Incremental i death, Gusty winds H ly Hi 4 URBAN PLANTS. STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL, 175Life URBAN PLANTS: STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL SF} yan ideal combination of water aun, and nutrients a distinctive ere ted, nursery-bred specimen. Under they appear to be newly planted. On closer examination, one pacwricn: ‘each twig's tiny annual es, are more than ten years old, m. Telltale lines on their twigs show only a one-quarter inch day. Only a fraction of, FIGURE 61 ‘Urban street trees contend with great stress: intense heat or dense shade, ae harsh environment will ‘wonder the average life span of an urban st years {cing compounds and dog urine alter the osmotic pressu in the surrounding soil, so that moisture is sucked out roots, Leaks from gas mains poison the roots, while automobile exhaust and i dust can poison and suffocate the leaves of more surprising that street trees survive a span is 20 short. Slight differences in the street’s physical environment make ‘enormous difference to the survival rate. Streets could be designed ‘a waterproof concrete base, w! le on a bed of sand that per pacted subsoil and are planted in 176Life 178 water which finds its way the compacted soil beneat snnot drain out through leaky sewer ‘come waterlogged rathe yydrated (see figure 9.3), ‘Trees on a plaza may face even worse conditions than those on streets. Most plazas are not in a pot freezes and heats up rapidly, and tender roots ar ely burned and frozen in cli Pronounced seasonal changes. Plazas are also often locat- ‘all buildings, where gusty winds dehydrate both Large city parks, one would think, provide an optimal habitat for trees. But one glance at trees in a well-loved and well-used down- town park reveals many of t plaza trees. They are dwarfed, in Washington, D.C., between the Capi ‘ument, is as dense as concrete. The elms the Mall are less than thirty feet high, although they were planted more than fifty years ago. One would normally expect an elm of that age to be con- tiderably larger. People represent the greatest threat to trees and gri both through unwitting overuse and by outright acts of Vandalism of city trees is probably as old as the first pt Yandalien ba plagued Boron Common (which Beidenteugh se ts dug in the compacted urban soil, the tree's roots and the URBAN PLANTS: STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL and adjacent Tremont Street and proceeded a iages an plan .edy flowers, shrut foned urban land disprove the rule. Landscape aesthetics has eco- 179Life 180 decline with neglect. The combination of the hostile city environ- ‘ment and restricted municipal budgets has disastrous consequences for this high-maintenance landscape. led States, street tree species must usually be sel ten comprised of no more than eight or ten spe- ees, which survive Species go in and ings of a single species, not only parks and private yards, This produces a: streets may be quickly stripped of yn in many North American, ‘American elm was among the mi same decade, and 10 to 46 percent after an additional five years The removing s0 many dead elms strained municipal budgets. It ‘was estimated that Chicago lost 295,000 elms over twenty inches in diameter between 1968 and 1978, and that removal costs amounted to approximately $24 ‘These losses have had dramatic con- sequences for the landscape of many American Cities have not learned from history; the London plane tree, the Norway maple, and, recently, the honey locust have enjoyed si fads, Heavy investment in a few species has fueled the active re- search in plant diseases of the overplanted street trees, and heroic efforts are made to find new antidotes or to develop new, disease resistant breeds of trees. But cities continue to plant only a few spe- cies and to line boulevards with the same tree from end to end, up a legacy of potential devastation for the next generation. To most North Americans, a manicured lawn with mature shade trees is the ideal park. This pastoral landscape, reminiscent of En- glish country estates, has its origins in the cool, humid climate of Britain, but has been replicated throughout the United States and the world without regard to climate. It has the look of land, of a grazed, wooded pasture, rather than a fores al plant community, whose persistence depends IRE 82 grazing the lawn of Franklin Parkin Boston, ca 1916, now replaced by ‘mowers. Sheep stl graze the lawns of many English est ‘tensive, expensive maintenance. The lawn is at odds with trees and the environment they create. Although grass needs water than trees, it may not be able to compete with tree roots sr and nutrients. Turf thrives on open sun and a chemical Maintaining a healthy lawn under shade trees requires fant battle. The forest trees planted in most parks, like the Nor maple and horse chestnut, cast shade too dense for grass to DMourish beneath them. Leaves must be raked, lime added to the soil, sped. This is not a self-regenerating landscape. fe, the landscape must be perpetuated by plant-Life ighborhoods and the poot ing preserves. The word “pai nal sense, referred to an enclosed wrdeners and {Brazing sheep and deer cropped the lawn and kept the woodland ia check. When Frederick Law Olmsted designed Prospect Park in Brooklyn and Franklin Park in Boston, it was accepted that sheep. ‘would graze the large meadows in both parks (se figure 8.2). Today the task requires a fleet of lawnmowers powered by gas and oil, ‘Sheep can easily nibble the grass atthe base of trees, but large lawn. ‘mowers find it much more diffi cherry trees were planted Point in Washington, D. week now took ten people more than a week, since twenty. to thirty-ineh walk-behind mowers replaced a fifteen-foot-wide trac. established, most plants, are being eradicated from Denver, which do not natu- rally support forests. In such regions, trees and lawn must ining scarce municipal water supplies. To- 8 parks are in decay in both humid and semiarid icago, Boston, and Denver. The enormous budgets re- ‘maintain them exceed the resources of these cities. Vast areas of parkland are no longer seen by the city as an asset, but a tery, but appeals to increase park department bud- ‘ets are refused again and again. Des} ability Not all urban plants require cultivation. Wi lots. Ailanthus alt “tree that grows in imported from China in the eighteenth century as an ornamental plant, allanthus now prospers in vaca and sidewalk cracks. It can grow seve adverse conditions. Unfortunately, ail longevity, and elegance whi It is a messy tree with flowers. These characteristic landscape architects, an in some parts of the city, apart from buildings. e tree-of-heaven may cast the only shade democratic tree, making no distinction URBAN PLANTS: STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVALiA CHAPTER 9 184 land. The city of Boston has identified “ur- city as a natural resource. West Berlin is fering transforming an urban “wildemess” into a nature park. manages its extensive city forest as a revenue-producing, re- oarce. An understanding of individual plants and their needs, and of ‘dynamics oftheir relationships with each other and their environ- underlie all these solutions. Nurturing the Urban Biome The Necessities of Life Cree ieee been venerated by many human cultures. The cult of tees was part of ancient Persian and Assyrian religions, for which a tree witha stream at its roots was a symbol of eternal life, and tree planting a sacred. | tccupation. The Persians taught boys the art of planting trees as part fof their education, Trees have been a pleasure to city dwellers since | Sennacherib lad out a public park 2,500 years ago forthe citizens of [Nineveh in Mesopotamia: “I made gardens in the upper and in the lower town,” he said, "with the earth's produce from the mountains and the countries round a pices from the land of the Hittites, mer, vines from the ‘every country; spices and sirdu-trees have I planted f * Given this ancient prac- tice of building urban parks and the venerable professions of horticul- stonishing that modera methods of cultivation fand management of urban vegetation are s0 crude, The solutions needed for increasing the survival rate of urban plants and managing the urban landscape more economically are relatively simple, Plants are not inert sculpture, and they have a few basic requirements for survival: they respond to their envionment in predictable ways and, i Teft alone, arrange themselves in space and time according to well ‘understood principles. The alteration of that natural arrangement by ‘human intervention requires an expenditure of energy. ‘Nurturing the urban biome will require a thoroughgoing overhaul in ‘curent approaches to selection and design of urban open space and same processes and respond to the same ‘The urban forest can be maintained and once it is designed to harness these NURTURING THE URBAN BIOMELife Plant community isa funation of fashion fd land we Succesion| Zonation is pry {response © human scietien — Mam fate vpn =e | Since plants vary in thee tolerance to environmental ce environmental conto hay species will survive where more sensitive species would roe amb. Transplant apecie of fret tre tothe ey sret or soon ple, and it must contend with an environment different in every respect from the forest in whic Plant community 2 anton of evitonenenta factors a land se Diferent successional stages ae present Zonation is primarily city. Matching urban habitat analogues in “wilder” TTT esl DESERT GRAGOLANOY DRT SCRUGY FOREST TUNDRA SAVANNA WZOGLAND URE 9.1 sribution of major plant formations, primarily a response to rainfall and perature patterns, Both the structure ofthe formation and form of indivi al species are adapted to those factors and lumbering or by fire and landslides. Similar types of plants colo- nize abandoned fields in the countryside and vacant lots in the city. They are temporary plant communities, the initial pioneers that col- ‘onize and graduall protect the soil from evaporation, land create an environment favorable to microorganisms and other © plants, If undisturbed, perennials crowd out the pioneer annual and | biennial plants within a few years, and are, in forested regions, ‘eventually overtopped in turn by trees. As succession proceeds, or- 187Life NURTURING THE URBAN BIOME Europe, in response to varying ‘of urban growth, different pat- re importance of different eco- fe strength of the royalty. These multi- energy may be harnessed and directed. rating an urban landscape ‘earthen walls. When the walls were destroyed they were replaced by broad tree-lined streets, served by aurturing a prairie or chaparral rd. When Baron Haussman sliced landscape, rather than squandering their scare the maintenance of forest trees. Whether cul city’s plant comm: ‘can be designed 4 lusion would not have been ‘more secure, their appearance more lush, and their management ‘more economical. inged Paris and was part of is by Louis XIV, ough the center populace, rather Nurturing City Plants od by streets, highways, and railroad tracks are ich people enter and leave the city and move | 8 hey influence how the city is first perceiv ‘same with the avenue approaching the Avenue des Champs-Elysées. Allée is derived from the French .ed garden path going out from ynable Berlin promenade since named the Linden Allée ints. They influence 1 places where peopl promenade has long been a favored urban recreation, and trees streets have served this purpose for at least four hundred years, sges, to denote any broad, tree-lined street ty of the street tree increased came denser and urban became 189Life 190 more and more common. By the mi ‘ways approaching major Dutch ble rows of trees, and as the cities expanded, the streets and cs facing the homes of wealthy burghers sported newly planted y Seventeenth-century Dutch paintings show wooden tree guards trunks from damage. The urban environment was es than now, but it was never ideal, and maintain street trees always required effort. For centuries, that effort has be considered worthwhile. The current, dismal survival rate of urban street trees can be im Proved, but not without cost. Success is assured only if trees selected from among appropriate species, planted adequat soundly maintained, a rare combination in modern cities. St survival need not, however, be a game of chance. The Ohio Shade! Tree Project, after more than ten years of evaluat various tree species to survive urban stresses, has published. ‘shade trees that will survive and even thrive on city ei is much more extensive than those used by many North American ting a tree well—to promote drainage and acral provide irrigation and fe ‘on symbolic or major streets where the survival and growth of street trees is deemed importa mum of sixteen feet in diameter around . A fourteen-foot-diameter irrigation ring under the con- idewalks promotes irrigation, fertilization, and aeration, an underground drain carries away excess water, and a tree around the base of each trunk inhibits soil compaction. The cost of the new pavement rees planted in the adjacent ees in the new Denver Transitway Mal FIGURE 9.2 Two rows of street tres on Pennsylvania Avene in Washington, D.C, show ing response to different soll conditions. The same size when planted four sidewalk trees are now noticeably smaller than those in ope the elaborate system constructed to suppor then, sccordng to + wight diferent ytem, The Den Jt were plant ver trees were placed in precast concrete vaults wit lids. The vaults permit compaction of the surrounding soil to Prevent future settlement without affecting the soil immediately around the tree roots. Perforations in the lid and an air space be- ‘and soil permit air circulation. The castiron grate around ‘each tree trunk has removable rings to accommodate tree growth, ‘Openings in the side of the va pipes and may even allow roots to grow out into the surrounding. soll. The tree pits can be fushed with water once a year to remove A There are other, less expensive al the compacted subsoil and the planting soil of the tree pit mary cause of the effect,” can also beFy and 9.4), Instead of replacing the excavated urban recommend amendment of 1 ly ety twenty 2 11 space must be provided, and in some urban mibornoode, private yards provide the necessary open soil for se are no private front yards, healthy ‘The problem: the “teacup” syndrome, common cause of death in newly planted turban trees, In wet seasons, accumulated water sits in tee pits, unable to ‘rain, and tre roots rt in drought, roots cannot penetrate compacted subsoil to reach ground water FIGURE 9.4 ‘The solution: planting techniques that permit air and water to move through the soll and provide room for roots to grow will increase both lfe span and size of urban trees. jighway and railroad rights-of-way are much less exacting envi- buffers between traffic and adja- t to being walked or driven fety, function. Wissa- rives comprise a major traffic link northern suburbs of Philadelphia and the downtown area. river drives, on the east and west banks of the Schuylkill River, among the mos eau approaches 10 ay anywhere, They t image of the city than does the highway led by visitors who arrive and leave by route than , city planners in Dayton, , have promoted the idea of reforesting expressway rights-of- lead to the central business district. They "e future approaching Dayton through a forest 1 glimpses of the skyline through the trees. In 1978, Dayton GQENLARGE HOLE POR SHARED ROOT SPACE Riv eRASe Sbesou SOL AMENDED WITH Baers Joreou on conPoST NURTURING THE URBAN BIOME 193Life 194 Jb, their combined aesthetic, climatic, and hydrologic benefits can ned to produce shade 8 comfortable microcl. survive in the plaza, one of the ot sulficient to merely select 1g honey locusts and English mate the ‘more people use the pa imaintenance can be reduct lection and arrangement \dscaping around the isconsin, is composed ‘A small plaza in Philadelphia, dedicated to architect Louis Kahn, demonstrates both a sensible and an un: spproach to planting rees planted in tiny holes ‘The other half consists of an enormous raised group of, from extremes of sun and wind. Planters fe to accommodate many trees do not have the severe f temperature fluctuation and desiccation that plague 3 designed for single trees, plaza is frequently a roof garden, sophie space and parking garage among the most expensive urbi Structural considerations restrict are further exacerbated by the gusty level plazas and roof are necessary to provide the frequent watering and f plant growth and survival. Even with the most cannot exist more than ten years in such condi ‘Success requires selection of plants from attention to soil mixture and drainage though the costs of ins ing population. The price exacted the land has been a more uniform and .ny native plants are now extinct: 56 per- entire Dutch flora are rare and only 20 percent are com- ‘mon. In response to this disappearance of their native landscape, NURTURING THE URBAN BIOME. 195Life NURTURING THE URBAN BIOME the Dutch have applie’ tse of space." The study's cor ‘and abandoned land can pl tary type of play space. / The cities of Utrecht, Amsterdam, Haarlem, and The Hague now have such parks, Improved methods of establishment and main- retaining a didactic emphasis, but children can give their fantasy — the responsibility for its shape and _| free reign and adults share cultivation. the creation of the Bos Park, or “Forest. 129, The builders of the Bos Park created since the importation of topsoil rot only unnecessary, but unde- ‘the wind, but also dried out the poorly drained polder. the poplar and willow the park, and forest. ., were planted in, smaller groves. The poplar and willow were then thinned out and, the Bist fifteen years, gradually replaced by the forest species. city, in apartment complexes and along ma Delft created an experimental park on an eleven- | new apartment complex called the Buitenhof, or tain than the pastoral park. The Dutch have found that local jintenance manpower during. sion to take its course, with some help. A few to hasten this process, and a mixture of barley, flower meadow quickly.’ the city established a few paths and encouraged resi hers where needed. The city built a small in the park, but for the most part, chi lings and shrubs are cropping up along many Wway departments cut back their mowing schedulnately, this is only a response to restricted budgets, not part of an overall scheme to manage the city’s vegetation, tages—both economic and aesthetic—could be gé highway maintenance programs were desigi the roadway, where trees would pose obst meadow could be managed to inhibit tree g2 ence is one model, a manager developed at Connecticut College Art retum’s plan cals for the establishment of dense shrubbery which requires an initial period of manage, ly maintenance free." len has not met with the same success in Europe. The successional meadow or ‘woodland is untidy compared to manicured Won developed. One-third of all ora in Berlin grows in this area—106 tree species and 307 species , herbs, mosses, and ferns, including 17 endangered spe- of ferns and flowering plants, as well as 20 other plants consid- fone species that had sported downtown and the same meadow looks “aban- 1 area” parks are therefore most widely appreciated \¢ Outskirts of the city and on the edges of inner- }oods on tracts of more than one acre, The introduction community into a downtown Amer. ere have been many failures and thetic is to be appreciated in an urban setting, care must be taken to select attractive plants, to design the edge between the park and adjacent streets and buildings with {great care, to devise a simple maintenance program, and to solicit the Participation of people who live and work nearby. “Time Landscape” York City was intended as a relic of the Manhattan environment prior to its settlement by humans. The artist conceived of it as a living, evolving seul Progress from successional meadow to f in forgotten corners in vacant , abandoned quarries, wet lowlands, and steep slopes. Some of urban wilds represent the cosmopolitan mixture of plants typi- in places uninviting to plant communities are vegetation, [Framer with distance from the cy center, and ae composed of NURTURING THE URBAN BIOMELife evolved over many years region and the specific character and other untended urban plant communi contain the same plant species when they occur in geographic and climatic regions. They place the city in its regi context and differe apart from the surrounding landscape. Wi ‘communities—be they forest, desert, or grassland—different gro of plants grow on uplands and lowlands, on northern and sout communities represent unexploited resources areas which are frequent of a particular city—its geological origins, topographic setting, manicured parks. 4,560 acres—or 14 percent—of “vacant land and agriculture." land in these categories and determined ‘were natural areas worthy of conservation. All city neighborhoods, | ‘with exception of those immediately adjacent to the downtown, con: tain urban wilds, The most significant sites are large tracts of land, ranging from 25 to 100 acres, with a scenic, rural appearance and a diversity of natural features and vegetation. Many of the sites are ‘clustered together: Along the Neposet ive in Dorchester and Matapan several outndig remain, Behind the mill buildings at Dorchester Lower Mills, the ‘of a rock gorge composed of Roxbary pudding stone rise seventy feet Above the river. The gorge is heavily wooded by red maple trees and at tinusual ground cover of evergreen ferns can be seen. Further up behind Be ‘Mel Street im Mattapan, a two acre meadow with several specimen willow tnees gently slopes toward the river. At the norther edge of the meadow, massive rock outcrop rising twenty feet provides the focal point fr the ae. ps afford sweeping views of the city al coves and saltwater marshes, offe me sites on cliffs and Boston harbor ‘Some of these natural areas are owned by government agen- but most are privately owned. zens and city officials, who deemed 0 be left unprotected, have soug! to acquire the land iden’ +r ownership to the cit and triggered $700,000 governmentDesigning the Urban “Forest” Hits ongoing research program has provided many of the solu- Bnew being implemented in Washington and in other cities, omises to uncover further solutions as current research ma- Many European cities have long managed their forests a ag able resource, Public forests cover nearly one-quarter of Zany constitute most of that city’s open space. The forests protec slopes from erosion and the city’s water supply trem zadation, and provide more tangible financial benefits as well 4 are managed to produce a sustained yield; the profits trem production pay for forest maintenance, administrative costa ux estry research Zurich's foresty program in not exceptional rope. Public forests in Pari, Frankfurt, and Oslo are managey professional foresters for wood production, as well a for nen and conservation of water resources, Similar programs in the United States have been disappoin, ‘Some, like Dayton’s, were defeated before they began. Others, the Chicago Forestry Scheme, achieved an inital success that he been sustained. In the early 1970s, Chicago was face ‘of thousands of dead or dying elm trees, tion that banned burning of tree litter city increasing scarcity of landSil sites. In 1972, the Bureau of Fo Purchased a machine to cut harvested trees into wood chips roximately 15 to 20 percent of the dead trees removed in 1972 were converted to wood chips and sold for a proft exceeding 822000 This sum represented only a small protion of the bureau's annual budget, but the city hoped to expand the operation. Plans we made for a more ambitious program to exploit new markets for wood products, but these never materialized. To date, techniques of fora management have not been fully applied in North American cites. A program to manage the city’s forest for sustained yield and to exploit new markets for city wood products holds much promise. ‘Washington, D.C, is one of the most intensively maintained ur ban landscapes in the world, a landscape that survives by virtue of | careful management of plants and soil. The National Capital Region of the National Park Service is responsible for the planning, design, and maintenance of Washington's national parks. Faced with the annual hordes of tourists strations that trample th snd monument grounds to the density of concrete, rk Service has generated ‘most of the research conducted on urban soils and plant stress United States. The Ecological Services Laboratory, an applied research organization which is part of the National Cap- ital Region, isa center for research on urban tree survival and urban , and to renovate the soil using an mental compost composed of wood chips and sewage sludge. his experiment was successful. The Washington, D.C., Sewage tment Plant got rid of its sewage sludge, and the Park Service over the cost of resodding, The compost, known as is now available to gardeners in the Washington area. ional Park Service employs one full-time agronomist to gpervise the management of lawns in the National Capital's parks, is his job to reestablish a green lawn after each Fourth of July lebration has reduced the grass around the Washington Monu- nt to churned mud so dense that it can scarcely be plowed by the th research ag- ent varieties of bluegrass for their al trampling and the different ‘could possibly survive, were dismayed. Most of the turf did in fact succumb, but several varieties survived, and these are now the sub- NURTURING THE URBAN BIOME