Linear infiltration systems along urban streets: evaluating aesthetic values

Abstract

The last decade has seen the design of numerous infiltration systems along urban streets. With the goal of reducing the impact of runoff on urban watersheds, they have largely been functionally designed with little regard to design aesthetics even though aesthetic value is important to public acceptance and increased use. This paper compares three case studies of linear infiltration systems along urban residential streets: one in Hannover-Kronsberg (Germany) and two in High Point, Seattle (USA). The cases develop and apply an expert-based evaluative method for assessing the visual quality of these designed landscapes. The methodology applies qualitative and quantitative measures for four design principles—coherence, variety, legibility, and spaciousness—common to all types of spatial design and some 2-D disciplines. The findings demonstrate that the designed systems have unrealized potential to engage aesthetic values, including the legibility of infiltration's enhanced visibility.

• Design evaluation
• landscape aesthetics
• public open space
• urban stormwater management
• urban street corridor

Acknowledgements

We thank Robert Ryan and Claudia Bernasconi for valuable input and suggestions at an earlier stage of this paper. We also thank Laura Selmani for developing many of the drawings in this document.

Additional information

Frank Sleegers is an assistant professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, University of Massachusetts Amherst. he holds a diploma in Landscape Architecture from the Universität hannover and an MLA from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. his research investigates urban infiltration systems in relationship to aesthetic values, and his urban design lab integrates scientific research in remediation, art, and community participation with land use patterns, urban form, and site-specific interventions.

Biographical notes Elizabeth Brabec is a professor and former department head in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Land conservation, the design and planning of sustainable open space and green infrastructure, including stormwater management functions, are central to her research. Before joining the University of Massachusetts, she served as a professor and department head in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at Utah State University and as an associate professor at the University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources and Environment.