Coastal SEES (Track 2), Collaborative: Developing High Performance Green Infrastructure Systems to Sustain Coastal Cities

来自沿海城市的废水、污水和径流的排放仍然是沿海地区污染的主要来源。现代城市的防渗性只会加剧这一问题，因为它会增加城市表面的径流，在采用单一管道污水输送系统的城市引发综合下水道溢出事件，并加剧城市洪水。许多沿海城市，包括西雅图、纽约和旧金山等美国城市，正在转向城市绿色基础设施(GI)，以减轻城市在沿海地区污染中的作用。城市地理标志，如绿色屋顶、绿色街道、先进的行道树坑、雨水花园和生物沼泽，将植被和渗透性引入城市景观，从而减少城市径流的数量和污染物负荷。然而，城市GI也有对沿海城市可持续发展同样重要的共同利益。例如，增加城市边界内的植被和渗透性可以帮助城市环境降温，捕获有害的空气颗粒物，增加生物多样性，并促进公众健康和福祉。尽管这些共同效益很重要，但目前大多数城市GI计划仍然专注于通过被动滞留和保留降雨或径流来实现暴雨水量的减少。考虑多个可持续发展目标的GI设计的整体方法很少见，而且缺乏实时监控和主动控制系统来帮助确保个人或联网的GI在所需的时间范围内实现性能目标。此外，城市居民如何看待、互动和重视GI，在当前的城市GI项目中很少被研究或考虑。该项目将为下一代城市地理标志开发和测试一个新的框架，该框架利用地理标志的多功能促进沿海城市的可持续发展，建立一个实时监测和控制城市地理标志网络的平台，并考虑到人类在地理标志管理和长期功能中的作用。该项目将使用纽约市的布朗克斯河下水道作为其生活试验台，该项目计划在未来5年向GI投资2000万美元。GI植根于几个学科，该项目汇集了这些学科的专业知识，包括土木工程和环境工程、环境科学和植物科学/园艺学。此外，该项目还整合了其他学科的专业知识，包括城市规划和设计、气候科学、数据科学、环境微生物学、环境法和政策、机构间协调、社区推广和公民科学。项目的具体成果将包括：(1)关于城市和沿海环境中不同地理信息干预措施的整体环境表现的新的科学数据；(2)地理信息干预网络系统一级性能的新模型；(3)预测气候变化下地理信息表现的方法；(4)地理信息远程监测和控制平台；(5)法律和政策改革建议，以使美国沿海城市能够在实现可持续发展目标所需的规模上引入地理信息；(6)重新认识人与地理信息的相互作用及其在城市地理信息的长期表现和维护中的作用。与布朗克斯河污水处理厂的学校接触以及让公民参与大兵绩效监测都是该项目工作的重要组成部分。跨学科项目团队将学术专业知识与行业、政府和非营利组织的专业知识相结合。

Discharge of wastewater, sewerage and runoff from coastal cities remains the dominant sources of coastal zone pollution. The impervious nature of modern cities is only exacerbating this problem by increasing runoff from city surfaces, triggering combined sewer overflow events in cities with single-pipe wastewater conveyance systems and intensifying urban flooding. Many coastal cities, including US cities like Seattle, New York and San Francisco, are turning to urban green infrastructure (GI) to mitigate the city's role in coastal zone pollution. Urban GI, such as green roofs, green streets, advanced street-tree pits, rainwater gardens and bio-swales, introduce vegetation and perviousness back into city landscapes, thereby reducing the volume and pollutant loading of urban runoff. Urban GI, however, also has co-benefits that are equally important to coastal city sustainability. For example, increasing vegetation and perviousness within city boundaries can help cool urban environments, trap harmful air-borne particulates, increase biodiversity and promote public health and well-being. Despite the significance of these co-benefits, most current urban GI programs still focus on achieving volume reduction of storm water through passive detention and retention of rainfall or runoff. Holistic approaches to GI design that consider multiple sustainability goals are rare, and real time monitoring and active control systems that help ensure individual or networked GI meet performance goals over desired time-scales are lacking. Furthermore, how city inhabitants view, interact with, and value GI is little studied or accounted for in current urban GI programs. This project will develop and test a new framework for the next generation of urban GI that exploits the multi-functionality of GI for coastal city sustainability, builds a platform for real-time monitoring and control of urban GI networks, and takes account of the role of humans in GI stewardship and long-term functionality. The project will use the Bronx River Sewershed in New York City, where a $20 million investment in GI is planed over the next 5-years, as its living test bed. GI has its roots in several disciplines, and the project brings together expertise from these disciplines, including civil and environmental engineering, environmental science, and plant science/ horticulture. In addition, the project integrates expertise from other disciplines needed to elevate GI performance to the next level, including urban planning and design, climate science, data science, environmental microbiology, environmental law and policy, inter-agency coordination, community outreach and citizen science. The specific outcomes of the project will include: (i) new, scientific data on the holistic, environmental performance of different GI interventions in an urban, coastal environment; (ii) new models for the system level performance of networks of GI interventions; (iii) methodologies for projecting GI performance under a changing climate; (iv) a platform for remote monitoring and control of GI; (v) proposals for law and policy changes to enable US coastal cities to introduce GI at scales necessary to meet sustainability goals, and (vi) new understanding of human-GI interactions and their role in the long-term performance and maintenance of urban GI. Engagement with schools in the Bronx River Sewershed and engagement of citizens in the GI performance monitoring are both important components of the project work. The interdisciplinary project team integrates academic expertise with expertise in industry, government and non-profit organizations.