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

沿海城市排放的废水、污水和径流仍然是海岸带污染的主要来源。现代城市的不透水特性只会加剧这一问题，因为它增加了城市地表的径流，在拥有单管污水输送系统的城市引发了联合下水道溢出事件，并加剧了城市洪水。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。城市地理特征，如绿色屋顶、绿色街道、先进的街树坑、雨水花园和生物洼地，将植被和透水性引入城市景观，从而减少城市径流的体积和污染物负荷。然而，城市地理标志也具有对沿海城市可持续发展同样重要的协同效益。例如，增加城市边界内的植被和透水性可以帮助冷却城市环境，捕获有害的空气传播颗粒，增加生物多样性并促进公共健康和福祉。尽管这些共同利益具有重要意义，但目前大多数城市地理标志项目仍然侧重于通过被动滞留和保留降雨或径流来减少雨水的体积。考虑多个可持续性目标的GI设计的整体方法很少，并且缺乏有助于确保单个或网络GI在期望的时间尺度上满足性能目标的实时监测和主动控制系统。此外，在当前的城市地理标志项目中，城市居民如何看待、与地理标志互动和重视地理标志的研究很少。该项目将开发和测试下一代城市地理标志的新框架，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年内向GI投资2000万美元。地理标志植根于多个学科，该项目汇集了这些学科的专业知识，包括土木与环境工程、环境科学和植物科学/园艺学。此外，该项目还整合了将地理标志绩效提升到新水平所需的其他学科的专业知识，包括城市规划与设计、气候科学、数据科学、环境微生物学、环境法律与政策、机构间协调、社区外展和公民科学。该项目的具体成果将包括：(i)关于城市沿海环境中不同地理标志干预措施的整体环境绩效的新科学数据；（ii） GI干预网络系统级绩效的新模型；（iii）预测气候变化下地理指标表现的方法；（iv）远程监测和控制地理标志的平台；(5)提出法律和政策改革建议，使美国沿海城市能够在必要的规模上引入地理标志，以实现可持续发展目标；(6)对人类与地理标志相互作用及其在城市地理标志长期表现和维护中的作用有了新的认识。参与布朗克斯河下水道的学校和公民参与GI绩效监测都是项目工作的重要组成部分。跨学科的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.