Virginia Tech
Improving Urban Watershed Health Through Suburban Infill Design and Development
Abstract
dc:description.abstractUp to 75 percent of new construction between 2000 and 2030 may â be redirected inward or into more compact, mixed-use suburban developments (Nelson, 2004). If this assertion is even nearly true, and if the goals of the Clean Water Act are to be met in the next generation of American cities, then we must find feasible and effective ways of improving urban watershed health using retrofit and infill development as a primary means. The aim of this study is to evaluate the patterns and approaches of suburban infill developments in order to determine which methods and extents are deemed capable of improving the health, sustainability and natural services of urban streams and watersheds. Water is considered to be foundational to urban and suburban sustainability and is treated as a primary indicator of overall health and sustainability within the context of this study. This thesis presents three pilot studies that examine urban watershed health using a single case as a vehicle. The studies, in the order they are presented, are: 1) Form- analyzing the relationship between landuse patterns and imperviousness, 2) Planning- relating questions of development scale planning and design to natural and cultural systems at the watershed scale and 3) Valuation- illustrating three possibilities for determining the economic value of improving urban watershed health.
Degree
thesis:*- Name thesis:degree_name
- Master of Landscape Architecture
- Level thesis:degree_level
- masters
- Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
- Landscape Architecture
- Department dc:contributor.department
- Landscape Architecture
- Grantor dc:publisher
- Virginia Tech
- Year dc:date.issued
- 2011
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author dc:creator
-
- Franklin, Joshua C.
- Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
-
- Bork, Dean R.
- Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
-
- Jacobson, Wendy R.
- Kim, Mintai
Subjects
dc:subject × 5Rights
dc:rights- Statement dc:rights
-
- In Copyright
- Licence dc:rights.uri
Identifiers
dc:identifier.*- Dc Identifier Other
- etd-07132011-082756
- OAI identifier oai:identifier
- oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/43713