Stream Restoration Projects: A Critical Analysis of Urban Greening

Abstract

Stream restoration projects are discussed in the context of their larger social purposes. Using a political ecology framework (including some of its European threads), the author explores how stream restoration initiatives have been carried out to date in the US and offers some preliminary reflections on how they could do more to advance environmental equity goals. Several aspects of how the endeavour is being carried out may inhibit progressive change, and they include: the metrics used to evaluate potential projects; the technical and managerialist construction of the problem definition; the understanding of what constitutes ‘urban;’ and the organizational aspects of stream restoration projects. While many stream restoration projects have made important contributions to their communities, a lack of comprehensive databases undermines full programme evaluation. The author concludes that both material and rhetorical dimensions of the stream restoration endeavour may be undermining the larger goals.

Notes

[1] The history of another local restoration effort started by volunteers (in Chicago) is presented in William K. Stevens' book, Miracle Under the Oaks: The Revival of Nature in America.

[2] Groups representing the interests of anglers have played an important role in restoring streams nationwide; see the website of Trout Unlimited (<www.tu.org>) and the Izaak Walton League of America (<www.iwla.org>).

[3] Although stream restoration itself has not been addressed in this way, ecological restoration in general is now being considered from the perspective of social science and humanities (Gobster & Hull, 2000).

[4] I thank Gail Tomlinson of the Fairmount Waterworks Interpretive Center for sharing this story with me.

[5] In his discussion of daylighting cases, Pinkham provides details on the micro-location and the type of public exposure the projects receive; to the best of our knowledge, this has not been included in any other stream restoration programme descriptions to date.

[6] Geobase is a comprehensive database covering more that 1800 journals in several fields including development studies, ecology, and geography.

[7] Other frameworks, such as environmental history, might also serve as the source of such insights.

[8] These aspects are not represented as comprehensive or exclusive; this paper is intended as a first exploration of this important topic and different approaches to categorization are certainly possible.

[9] Ironically enough, the newsletter itself is produced by a commercial firm that identifies itself as an EPA contractor, thereby raising one of the more contested issues in politics of administration in the US today: the appropriate use and oversight of government contractors (Hansen, 2003).

[10] The US Census Bureau, for example, holds that an urban area has a population density of 1000 people or more per square mile (web published at <http://www.census.gov/geo/www/ua/ua_2 k.html>).