Human Mobility in Mid-sized Cities

Although a large proportion of the world’s population live in large cities, in Canada, 40% of the population live in mid-sized cities (50,000 to 550,000 people) [1]. Mid-sized cities often face different challenges when it comes to sustainable transportation compared to large cities, but are important to focus on as well.

Community members living in mid-sized cities are often heavily reliant on vehicles. Most mid-sized cities in Canada are relatively new and were built during the automobile era, which allowed for infrastructure to be spread out. Zoning laws in cities also make it hard for its residents to use multimodal modes of transportation due to the large size of neighbourhoods and how far away they are from daily amenities.

The reason that public transportation works so well in large cities is because there are a lot of people traveling in the same places, which means that buses can run more often and be more reliable. In smaller towns, it is a challenge to get people to take public transportation because they often have to bike or even drive long distances to get to the bus stop, making the use of public transport a hassle. In addition, traffic delays in mid-sized towns aren’t problematic enough to promote other modes of transportation, because people ultimately want to choose the fastest and most efficient ways to travel.

Being from a mid-sized town myself, I was curious to look into the green transport initiatives that my hometown, Kelowna BC, is taking. The Kelowna metropolitan area has a population of nearly 200,000 people and it is rapidly increasing. It is expected that 50,000 people will move to Kelowna in the next 20 years [2]. With a rapid increase in population comes a lot of opportunity for sustainable initiatives going forward.

The City of Kelowna hopes to increase the ease of public transport use in the future by prioritizing buses over other traffic at key locations, and increasing the frequency and reliability of public transport. Rapid transit systems such as bus rapid transit, or light rail traffic are not economically feasible for the City of Kelowna at this point, but may be examined more in the future. The majority of Kelowna residents currently feel that automobile transport is the only viable transportation option, and one of the City’s main goals is to shift this mindset in the coming years [3].

References:

[1] https://urbansystems.ca/driving-change-sustainable-transportation/

[2] https://kelownapublishing.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=16871

[3] https://www.kelowna.ca/sites/files/1/docs/related/facts_in_focus_-_congestion_paradox_20180708_.pdf

November 29, 2018December 11, 2018

The Future of Vancouver Transit Improving Our Air, Water, Land, and GHGs

Making up almost 30% of Canada’s GHG emissions, transportation is a vital concept to address regarding environmental stewardship in cities. Transit maintains the range and time-competitiveness of driving, while also complimenting active modes of transport such as walking and cycling by extending the range one can travel.

Four of many areas that can be indicative of the health of a city include: the quality of air, quality of water, land use, and GHG emissions. The City of Vancouver’s Transportation 2040 plan in combination with their Greenest City 2020 Action Plan aims to make the city greener in part by means of encouraging use of transit for Vancouverites, and also implementing policies to better our transit system.

Air

The City of Vancouver has a Greenest City goal of having the cleanest breathing air of any major city globally. A specific and vital part of this action plan item is their target of reducing transit-related emissions. Particularly, the Greenest City 2020 Action Plan depicts the city’s goal of using 100% renewable, non-fossil fuel energy by 2050. To further address the city’s air quality beyond emission control, the City of Vancouver also aims to minimize road noise, vibration due to vehicles, and air pollution from car exhaust. Not only will these reductions benefit the overall urban air quality, but they will particularly benefit residents and businesses along transit corridors.

Water

Water pollution due to oil and fuel spills is another sizeable problem, especially in the city, with the high number of vehicles on the road. Spills and leaks from vehicles are washed off the road from* rainfall and this polluted runoff seep into soils, lakes, and wetlands. This in turn detrimentally impacts water and soil quality. The City of Vancouver’s goal of reducing road vehicles by encouraging the alternatives of non-fossil fuel transit and active transportation modes should translate to less oil and fuel spills, and resultantly a healthier ecosystem.

Land

Although Translink is in control of the city’s bus systems, the City of Vancouver shows support of the development of transit systems to encourage users by making transit-supportive land use decisions. A few examples of said decisions include the building of transit-supportive streets and public spaces, and the protection of corridors and sites for future routes and stations.

GHGs

Although the City of Vancouver does not have policy in place to directly control the number of vehicle users, they do support reduction of GHGs indirectly by deterring policies. Some of these include: increasing the regional fuel tax, implementing a transportation carbon tax, increasing the vehicle registration fee, and creating more road pricing.

Something everyone has in common is the need to get around. Transit is inexpensive and as such accessible to everyone. In upgrading to clean energy use, and updated transit policies and planning, there lies potential for a sizable environmentally friendly impact for our city.

References

City of Vancouver. (2012). Transportation 2040.

Trumbull, Nathaniel, and Christine Bae. “Transportation and Water Pollution.” University of Washington Growth Management Forum, 28 Jan. 2000. Retrieved November 12, 2018, from courses.washington.edu/gmforum/topics/trans_water/trans_water.htm.

Vehicle Emissions (2018). In Green Vehicle Guide. Retrieved November 24, 2018, from https://www.greenvehicleguide.gov.au/pages/Information/VehicleEmissions#ape

November 27, 2018November 28, 2018

Adapting to Climate Change: Flexibility in Resilient Cities

With pressures of climate change becoming a major global issue, the idea of resilient cities has become somewhat of a buzzword. I would like to focus on one overarching theme in resilient city literature and solutions: flexibility. 100 Resilient Cities defines urban resilience as “the capacity of individuals, communities, institutions, businesses, and systems within a city to survive, adapt, and grow no matter what kinds of chronic stresses and acute shocks they experience.” This is achieved “By strengthening the underlying fabric of a city and better understanding the potential shocks and stresses it may face.”

Change is inevitable, so our cities must be able to absorb impacts, react and adapt accordingly. However, infrastructure is usually something seen as permanent and lasting (de Haan). In mechanics, one learns that brittle fracture is much more dangerous than ductile fracture. It acts as a warning of the damage to come, and can absorb more energy prior to fracture, resulting in a stronger and more resilient structure. Why not apply this at a city scale?

In general, flexibility means the possibility to introduce certain options with the assumption of changing configuration of system parameters or system components in time (Kośmieja and Pasławski). De Haan points out that “the complexity of, especially nowadays, infrastructure systems suggests that we step away from attempts to control circumstances and prepare for their consequences.” My interpretation of flexible infrastructure lies in understanding that there are different possible outcomes and acknowledging that cites (and environments) change.

Flexibility can come in different scales. For example, buildings can be designed to be more seismically sound by including literal flexible materials within them, such as timber. This can be seen in Tūranga, the new central library in Christchurch, New Zealand, designed by Schmidt Hammer Lassen of Denmark. The building includes a “seismic force-resisting system [that] is made up of a series of massive concrete walls that can rock and shift to isolate the building from peak accelerations during an earthquake.” Along with the use of pre-tensioned steel cables that stretch and flex, allowing the building to right-itself in the event of swaying, this structure is virtually earthquake-proof.

At a larger scale, the Østerbro neighbourhood of Copenhagen is a resilient neighbourhood that incorporates flexibility in rainfall systems. Due to climate change, Copenhagen has dealt with increasing levels of high-intensity rainfall that original systems could not cope with. In the creating of resilient infrastructure, these increased rainwater levels were seen as an opportunity, rather than an issue that needed to be removed. As the old rainwater management systems could not be changed (an example of the rigidity of non-resilient infrastructure), and due to minimal space restrictions, new innovations needed to be implemented locally and in tandem with increases in public green spaces. For example, in Tåsinge Plads, a square in the community, rainwater is diverted away from roofs and squares to keep the water out of sewers, while the storm water is collected in green urban areas to support the incorporation of wild urban nature in the community. In the few paved areas, ‘water parasols’ were created for children as play elements, that double as catchment basins that pump water through small channels to green spots (these are the inverted umbrella-like black structures in the image below). Here, it is important to see that flexibility is not just physical, it is a mindset – and one must bring a systems thinking approach to planning for flexibility.

One of my favourite examples of resilient infrastructure can be seen in Rotterdam. Similar water issues are being dealt with here, where water squares have been created to act as social spaces, but in the event of flooding, can also hold excess water. The flexibility in this site is clear, with multiple functions that addresses urban social living along with sustainable solutions simply, without the need for any advanced technical solutions or materials.

Urban resiliency is a buzzword for a reason: it is vital that cities address issues of our changing environments immediately, as well as do what is possible to prevent further global environmental degradation. A key component to this change is to introduce flexibility in approaching problems and at different scales. The Anthropocene is upon us, human activity is indeed the strongest geo-technical force at this moment, but why not try and make this impact a positive one?

OTHER RESOURCES

Maria Kośmieja, Jerzy Pasławski – https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2015.10.013

de Haan – https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2011.06.001

http://www.rotterdamclimateinitiative.nl/documents/2015- enouder/Documenten/20121210_RAS_EN_lr_versie_4.pdf

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016328711001352

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-319-49730-3.pdf

https://www.curbed.com/2018/5/11/17346550/organic-architecture-infrastructure-green-design

https://www.worldbank.org/en/results/2017/12/01/resilient-cities

https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/11986

https://www.resilientcity.org/index.cfm?id=11900

https://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/CER/article/viewFile/38207/39282

http://www.100resilientcities.org/resources/

November 26, 2018December 11, 2018

A Popular Way to Low Carbon City: Bikeshare System

If you are traveling in Shanghai, one of the largest cities around the world, you may be able to choose a new means of transportation by installing an app on your cell phone. The bike sharing systems, operated by several bike-sharing companies deployed in most large cities in China, is more and more popular because of the assets of lower carbon emission and higher mobility. The same trend could also be found around the world.

Bike sharing system is significantly beneficial to the reduction of carbon emission. The research carried out by UCL has shown that the public bike system has reduced 25240 tons of carbon dioxide in 2016. That emission could have been caused by the other parts of the transportation system, however, because of the bike sharing system have more advantages over the other non-human powered transportation system, people would switch to biking.

The bike could solve the problem caused by the last mile, which is a drawback of the public transit system, you could never make the stop just next to your home. However, with the help of the bike sharing companies, the bikes would be distributed to almost every part of the city based on the data processing and monitoring platform. That would make it easier for people to find a bike nearby. Also, the modern bike sharing system could allow people to leave the bike at the corner when they finish the trip, making it a lot easier to plan and even carry out a short distance trip. Another merit given to the biking system is most major cities around the world would try to update their scenery, making people more likely to ride a bike. Based on these assets, people would be more willing to choose the shared bike to travel instead of waiting for a bus or driving by themselves. In fact, according to Zhang’s research, people get more mobility with the help of the bike sharing system.

In order to lower down the carbon emission in urban areas, we couldn’t only try to limit the usage of petroleum or electricity powered transportation vehicles. The basic needs of the people should be considered. However, the shared bike could reach the balance easily. The bike sharing system is a large network operated by multiple companies. The bike is distributed either by the last user or by the staff of bike sharing companies. In that way, you could find a shared bike waiting for you almost everywhere. After you arrive at your destination, what you should do is to lock your bike and report to the sharing system and the bike could be registered by the next user.

The bike sharing system could mitigate the gap between the long distance public transportation system and the destination, which would be a strong competitor against the taxi. For example, if the target place is out of reach on foot but still in reach of the bike, people may use the biking system instead of the public transportation system because the stops of the transportation system may not be just next to the place they plan to go. Another advantage of the bike sharing system is that they could provide the service other than just moving people to the place they want to go. They could offer a special service of enjoying the trip.

Now according to the bike sharing data around the world, bike sharing is a very promising substitute of the public transportation system. Some cities around the world, like Vancouver and Melbourne, is perfect for bike riding. These cities have flat roads and less urban vehicle transportation flow. In the meantime, these cities have good sceneries for people to appreciate.

Reference: Zhang, Y., & Mi, Z. (2018). Environmental benefits of bike sharing: A big data-based analysis. Applied Energy, 220(December 2017), 296–301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.03.101

November 26, 2018December 11, 2018

New Solution of Urban Energy: Electric vehicles start to replace traditional vehicles in China, from the public transportation system

If you visit Wuhan, one of the largest city in China and you take a bus these days, you may be impressed by the nearly zero-noise experience and the strong feeling of acceleration. That is because 30 percent of public transportation buses have been updated into electric buses. This data is from Changjiang Times, a local newspaper.

According to Government of Wuhan, Wuhan now is trying to build more than 70000 new charging facilities for both electric buses and other electric vehicles by 2022. And with the help of several universities in Wuhan, the government is even more capable to push this trend in the whole province.

The electric vehicle has several environmental and social benefits. Except for the low emission, electric vehicles have multiple advantages not only to the environment but also to the power supply system. With zero emission feature, the electric vehicles would make the city greener, however, the large number of electric vehicles on the road or at home could be a great buffer for the city power supply system. Electricity price could be managed to let the owners charge the vehicles during valley period, also, the electric vehicles could provide additional power to the power grid during peak hours, helping optimize the power system designation! With the support of electric vehicles, the power supply of the grid could be steady and less energy would be lost.

Nowadays, China is encouraging the use of electric vehicles in the whole country by giving the bonus to the electric vehicle manufacturers and consumers. Now over 17.29 million electric vehicles are running on the roads in most mild-climate provinces in China. Yes, the battery couldn’t work at low temperature. But this long mission is faced with many doubts from the EV scholars in China. ‘Though EV seems to be green, it is hard to quantify the impact of the electric vehicles on the energy usage and the environment. ‘Dr. Yuan, Xinmei, an expert of electric vehicles who is also a professor at Jilin University said. However, he is still positive about the future of EV and now he is conducting research to find out the truth of EV.

Another factor that would make it even more tricky to decide the EV’s position in the environment is where the electricity comes from, said Dr. Yuan. In China, the electricity mostly comes from burning coals which could cause serious pollution, making electricity not so green compared with Canada where electricity mostly come from hydropower or wind power. ‘This would be a long journey, from the regulations to the energy structure we all have to make a change, but EV would be the best solution finally. Dr. Yuan told the author.

Though EV is more and more popular in China. This country may go through a period when there might not be great benefit brought by the EV, but finally, with the help of an optimized electric power generation system, the EV could contribute much to a clean environment.

Reference: Yuan, X., Li, L., Gou, H., & Dong, T. (2015). Energy and environmental impact of battery electric vehicle range in China. Applied Energy, 157, 75–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.08.001

February 1, 2018

Healthy Environments in The Netherlands

Posted by Michael Veerman, February 1, 2018

During the summer of 2017, I was part of a Sustainable Community Systems: Netherlands program. The program focused on the principles, practice, and policy for sustainable planning and design of land use and transportation systems, with Canadian and international perspectives.

Within the first week of being exposed to the country, it became clear that Dutch urban infrastructure holds an abundance of sustainability design features. The video below outlines the country’s outstanding achievements in the following categories and how it compares to Vancouver and other places.

Abundance of Public Transportation Services
Protected Bicycle Path Infrastructure
Bicycle Parking Infrastructure
Public Spaces
Green Spaces
Noise Reduction
Renewable Energy Infrastructure
Government Leadership

December 8, 2017

Looking home: Vancouver’s approach to environmental stewardship in transportation infrastructure

Sustainability is the biggest driver behind transportation planning policies in Metro Vancouver. Some of the guiding documents include: Transportation 2040, Greenest City 2020 Action Plan, Metro Vancouver 2040, and TransLink’s 10 Year Vision. What goals and methodologies do these documents lay out, and how do they really play out in Vancouver’s transportation engineering?

The primary goal of Vancouver’s sustainable transportation policies is to reduce carbon emissions to meet Greenest City 2020’s target of reducing community-based greenhouse gas emissions by 33% from 2007 levels by 2020. Currently, vehicles account for over 30% of greenhouse gas emissions in Vancouver. Transportation-specific targets to meet this goal are to increase the number of trips within the Lower Mainland by active transportation (bike, foot, or transit) to 50% by 2020 and 66% by 2050, and to reduce the average distance driver per resident by 20% from 2007 levels. On top of these, the Complete Streets Policy Framework creates guidelines for designing streets that integrate planning for all modes of travel as well as land use, urban design, green infrastructure, and public space. The Complete Streets Principles are shown below in Figure 1.

Figure 1 – Complete Streets Principles. (City of Vancouver, 2017).

In order to meet these goals, the City of Vancouver has primarily looked at promoting active transportation via improving greenways, bikeways, and transit. Some examples of projects currently being undertaken within the scope of the Transportation 2040 Plan include: the Arbutus Greenway, the 10^th Avenue Corridor bikeway, the Commercial Drive Compete Street, and the Georgia Gateway West Complete Street.

The result? Although the overall carbon emissions goal is currently projected to fall short of the 2020 target, the transportation targets have met expectations. As of 2016, both of the Greenest City 2020 transportation targets have been met; 50% of trips are currently being taken by active transportation means, and the average distance driven per resident has been reduced by 32% from 2007 levels.

So what’s missing here? The narrow focus of Vancouver’s sustainability policies on reducing greenhouse gas emissions creates a glaring gap in other elements of sustainability, such as road ecology and green infrastructure. This is somewhat mitigated by Vancouver’s Complete Streets initiative, which includes elements of green infrastructure in street level design, but still lacks transparent guidelines and goals for creating green roads. Furthermore, there has been a lack of research on the specific effects of urban road networks on Vancouver’s ecology. Moving forward, it would be great to see Vancouver’s sustainable transportation goals be expanded to include more than just climate change mitigation strategies.

References

City of Vancouver. (2017). Complete Streets Policy Framework.

City of Vancouver. (2012). Transportation 2040.

City of Vancouver. (2017). Greenest City Action Plan. Retrieved from City of Vancouver: http://vancouver.ca/green-vancouver/greenest-city-action-plan.aspx

Government of Canada. (2017, November 3). The Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change. Retrieved from Canada.ca: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/environment/weather/climatechange/pan-canadian-framework.html

Metro Vancouver. (2017). Retrieved from Metro 2040: http://www.metrovancouver.org/metro2040

Province of British Columbia. (2017). Climate Action. Retrieved from Province of British Columbia: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/transportation/transportation-environment/climate-action

TransLink. (2017). 10-Year Vision for Metro Vancouver Transportation. Retrieved from TransLink: https://10yearvision.translink.ca/

December 6, 2017

Sustainable Transportation Planning

Sustainable transportation allows people to travel while maintaining human and ecosystem health, is equitable between people through affordability and efficiency, offers flexibility and choices, and limits emissions and waste. Sustainable transportation of people and goods is an important environmental, economic, and health driver in Canada. Between 1991 and 2001, Canada saw an 11% increase in gas consumption, increased economic losses due to congestion, and an increase in obesity. These problems are addressed by the sustainable objectives of municipal and provincial governments. However, translating high level goals of reducing dependence on single occupancy vehicles into concrete plans to build and retrofit roads has proved to be difficult. The Transportation Association of Canada (TAC) recognizes this and has developed 12 guiding principles for sustainable transportation planning. These principles can help guide engineers and planners in making sustainable transportation decisions. For this post, I will focus on three of the 12 principles and provide examples of the principles in action.

Principle 2 Protect environmental health

Protecting environmental health is important to ecosystem and human health – if highways were built without regard for the environment, the surrounding ecosystems could be majorly impacted. In addition, not considering the impact of changing existing roads can change levels of congestion elsewhere, increasing emissions. Some goals for Principle 2 include:

Using environmental criteria (e.g. greenhouse gas emissions)
Use strategies that limit air pollution (e.g. anti-idling campaigns, reducing congestion)
Use strategies that limit the impact to water quality and the existing flora and fauna.

An example of a project that took protecting environmental health very seriously is the Banff Wildlife Crossings project, which used wildlife overpasses and underpasses to reduce the fragmentation that the Trans-Canada highway had caused.

Figure 1: Trans Canada Highway Wildlife Overpass in Banff National Park

Principle 5 Take a strategic approach

Using a high level strategic approach is important to sustainable transportation – without a vision and direction for what the municipality/province/country is trying to achieve, goals cannot be set. In addition, long-term strategic planning can result in projects being more affordable and improving transportation choices before demand overwhelms a system. Some goals for Principle 5 include:

Set vision and goals that are linked to sustainable transportation
Consider future land use and its impact to transportation (i.e. will high density zoning occur?)
Use quantifiable targets and objectives

An example of a municipality that is working towards more sustainable transportation is the City of Vancouver, who adopted their Transportation 2040 Plan in October 2012. While the plan may have some shortcomings, it overall addresses the need for Vancouver to have a strategic transportation plan.

Figure 2: City of Vancouver Proposed Rapid Transit Lines

Principle 8 Manage transportation supply

The transportation system for a metropolitan area is complex, interconnected, and sensitive to internal and external changes. Managing the transportation network real-time and log-term requires a flexible inventory of supply in order to meet demand. Some goals for Principle 8 include:

Maximize the capacity of multimodal transportation methods (e.g. HOV/bus lanes)
Maintain a level of service to minimize congestion and idling
Use strategies that recognize recurrent and occasional congestion and what can be done to manage both
Manage transportation assets

An example of a transportation system that is managing transportation supply is Translink’s Metropolitan Vancouver proposed “mobility pricing”. This system would use a “user pays” system in order to reduce driving unless absolutely necessary.

Figure 3: In a mobility pricing scenario, users who drive more pay more, encouraging people to carpool or use alternative transportation methods

With these three principles, combined with others, engineers and planners can make our transportation systems more sustainable. A sustainable transportation network is one that is equitable, minimizes impact to human and ecosystem health, offers flexible modes of transportation, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution.

Sources:

November 10, 2016

Closer Look Into Green Streets

Green Streets

The traditional design of streets is created of an impervious surface can make large amount of runoff when it rains. As the water runs along the surface it can pick up pollutants that then enter the water system. The water system can either be two separate systems: one for stormwater and the other for sanitary water or it can be a combination of the two. Either way some of these systems can’t handle the large peaks of runoff which a rain storm can produce. These volumes cause overflowing of basins and catchments which can leads to high volumes being released into the environment which can be very harmful. One of the ways to manage these high volumes and contaminant release is implementing green streets. Green Streets are a good example of how sustainable site planning can be implemented to create many benefits to a system that is already in place but can at some times be harmful to the environment. There are many sustainable benefits to Green Street which can be seen in the following list:

Improving water quality, air quality, temperature, aesthetics and safety
Reduce the peak flows that impact the underground storm water infrastructure
- Smaller and fewer pipes and less maintenance
Help prevent flooding
Improving, restoring and protecting water as a resource
Promote alternative surfaces
Promote renewable energy for street lights
Reducing heat that radiates from the hard surfaces
Promotes more appealing pedestrian use by being more walk-able, safe and attractive
Sense of place, higher livability

The following are some examples of what the infrastructure that might be included in a Green Street:

Porous pavement

Porous pavement could be made of pervious concrete, porous asphalt or permeable interlocking pavers. Implementing porous pavement infiltrate, treat and store runoff. It can be cost effective where land values are high and flooding and icing is a problem.

(http://njwsawpu.blogspot.ca/2011/06/permeable-pavement-epa.html)

Vegetated Curbs and sidewalks

Adding more vegetation will result in more of the rainwater being absorbed into the soil rather than being put in the stormwater system. Absorbing the water filters contaminants out of the water stops the contaminants from being released into the environment as well as reduce the peak flow volumes.

(http://www.deeproot.com/blog/blog-entries/the-rise-of-the-curb-cut-part-two)

Planter Boxes

Planter boxes are garden with vertical walls and either have open or closed bottoms. These can collect and absorb runoff from sidewalks, parking lots and streets. They are ideal for space-limited sites in dense areas.

(http://www.lastormwater.org/blog/2015/01/university-park-rain-gardens-to-grow/)

Rain garden: Biowales

Biowales are vegetated, mulched or xeriscaped channels that provide treatment and retention as they move stormwater from one place to another. The vegetated swales slow, infiltrate and filter the flow of stormwater. This system is well suited along the sides of streets and parking lots.

(http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/sbo/2014/01/world-cities-looking-to-portland-for.html)

LED Lights

Implementing LED lights into the street lights will reduce the energy used to light the streets while also, providing a brighter environment at night. This can be an example of how implementing green streets can promote the use of renewable energy.

An Example of Implementations:

Philadelphia has multiple projects that were implement all over the city. One of them is the Queen Lane Water Treatment Project. They implemented vegetated curb extension that protrude into the street creating a new curb. This curb is made of a layer stone topped with soil and plants. The curb design allows the runoff to flowing into the vegetation area so the plants can store and filter the runoff. Excess runoff can flow into the existing inlet which leads to the treatment plant. As well there is a downspout planter which allows the runoff from roof gutters to flow through the plants, which has the similar benefits as the curb design discussed above.

(http://www.phillywatersheds.org/what_were_doing/green_infrastructure/projects/QueenLane)

For more examples of other green street implementation in Philadelphia refer to their Green Streets Programs (http://www.phillywatersheds.org/what_were_doing/green_infrastructure/programs/green_streets).

Resources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxqxEqnHIKw&app=desktop

https://www.epa.gov/green-infrastructure/what-green-infrastructure

http://www.phillywatersheds.org/what_were_doing/green_infrastructure/projects/QueenLane

October 10, 2016

Exploration of Sonoma Mountain Village

The overarching goal of the Sonoma Mountain Village development is to provide a place for work and play within the community, while simultaneously promoting as much re-use as possible. Concepts such as, walking as the main mode of transportation, renewable energy, innovative use of building material, and natural heating/cooling systems will be explored.

Walking as the main mode of Transportation

The Sonoma Mountain Village development is designed in such a way where reliance on vehicles and busses are reduced or eliminated altogether. By building a core of places to shop and work within the centre of the development, the marketplace and theatre are more accessible than before. This approach can reduce the carbon footprint by approximately 90%.

Renewable Energy Source

Solar panels are used extensively at the Sonoma Mountain Village development. To provide a sense of scale, currently Sonoma Mountain Village provides 3 Megawatt (MW) of power, which is enough to sufficiently power approximately 1000 homes. Subsequently, the solar power extracted can be utilized to provide heating and cooling via a geo-exchange system. The natural temperature within the ground stays consistent around the year; heating is provided when the temperature of the home is cooler than the sub surface, and cooling is provided when the temperature of the home is warmer than the sub surface. The heating/cooling is then pumped into the building powered by solar energy; as a result, no burning of fossil fuels is required and thus further lowering carbon emissions.

Innovative Use of Building Material

Prior to construction at the Sonoma Mountain Village development, the main building material was required to be renewable, and had to have high constructability. Metal from cars could be recycled and remodeled into modular panels, and eventually the building that was created from these panels could be remolded for future use on another project. It takes approximately 8 recycled vehicles to build a single-detached family home.

Modular panels are also easier to transport, and because they are pre-fabricated in the factory, the actual construction process will be easier on site. Not only will construction be faster, but sediment and debris control on construction sites will be greatly reduced, which will reduce downstream contamination due to stormwater runoff.

By utilizing large existing buildings – such as the existing technology campus – the Sonoma Mountain Village already begins the project with sustainability in mind prior to construction. This will reduce a significant amount of waste from demolition, transportation of un-useable, and transportation of new material.