Mind the gap: tools for a parcel-based storm water management approach

Abstract

In the Great Lakes Basin, a legacy of industrial use and localised depopulation has created a unique set of needs around storm water management and neighbourhood stabilisation. Vast quantities of vacant land present an opportunity for projects that can address either or both problems. Urban vacant land has its challenges: decision-making related to selecting project sites is complicated, and the structure and distribution of vacant land favour small projects that can work in aggregate. Here, we describe decision-making for two storm water management projects that utilise small, distributed vacant parcels in Great Lakes cities. The first showcases the collection of novel data that were standardised among sites and users. The second utilises a hierarchical approach to data analysis that exploits available data-sets and could be applied at increasingly finer spatial scales. Both projects prioritise components of site selection processes that could have broader applicability basin-wide.

Keywords:

• Green infrastructure
• storm water management
• data collection
• site selection
• neighbourhood stabilisation
• vacant land
• Great Lakes
• data analysis
• tool development

Notes

1. This is a highly abbreviated and generalised introduction to aspects of what has been called the ‘shrinking cities’ condition of the Great Lakes Basin. More detailed accounts of the causes and implications of this phenomenon have been published elsewhere (Oswalt, 2005; Pallagst et al., 2009; Wiechmann & Pallagst, 2012).

2. At project onset, compaction tests were conducted at each of the nine station points. However, unlike the sampling, these tests are quite loud and disruptive to neighbourhood residents. It was decided that we could reduce the number of tests to five as long as they included at least one sampling location at the front of the property, one at the rear of the property, one at the centre of the property, and then two of the bisected locations. The tablet randomised this process and gave indication where to conduct the tests.