The Granite Garden : urban nature and human design. / txt
Anne Whiston Spirn.
- xiv, 334 p. ill. ; maps ; 24 cm. book
Includes index.
Bibliography: p. 290-314.
Preface xi -- Prologue The Granite Garden 3 -- Part I City and Nature: Chapter 1 City and Nature 9 -- Urban Nature and Human Design 11 -- Boston: A natural Environment Transformed 14 -- The search for Nature: Park Suburb, and Garden City 29 -- Part II Air: Chapter 2 Dirt and Discomfort 41 -- Poisons in the Air 43 -- Inversions and Stagnant Air 46 -- Gusts and Lulls 51 -- The Urban Heat Island 52 -- A Mosaic of Microclimates: Street Canyons, Plazas, and Parks 55 -- Chapter 3 Improving Air Quality, Enhancing Comfort, and Conserving Energy 62 -- Sun, Winds, and Emissions 63 -- Improving the Air along Streets and Highways 67 -- Creating More Comfortable Parks and Plazas 74 -- Designing a Cleaner, More Comfortable and Energy Efficient City 77 -- A Plan for Every City 85 -- Part III Earth: Chapter 4 Shifting Ground and Squandered Resources 91 -- Shifting Ground 92 -- Squandered Resources 101 -- Contaminated and Compacted Land 102 -- Chapter 5 Finding Firm Ground and Exploiting Resources 109 -- Forces of Earth, Water and Gravity 110 -- Finding Firm Ground 111 -- Conserving and Exploiting Resources 118 -- Designing a Safer, More Economical City 122 -- Part IV Water: Chapter 6 Floods, Droughts, and Poisoned Water129 -- Increased Floods 130 -- Poisoned Water 134 -- Dwindling Water Supplies 138 -- Chapter 7 Controlling and Restoring the Waters 142 -- Water in Motion 144 -- Storing Floodwaters 145 -- Restoring and Conserving Waters 150 -- Designing the City to Conserve and Restore Water and to Prevent Floods 154 -- A Plan for Every City 166 -- Part V Life: Chapter 8 Urban Plants: Struggle for Survival 171 -- A Vanishing Legacy 172 -- Hostile Habitats 175 -- An Expensive Aesthetic 179 -- Chapter 9 Nurturing the Urban Biome 184 -- The Necessities of Life 185 -- Nurturing City Plants 188 -- Exploiting Urban Wilds 195 -- Designing the Urban “Forest” 202 -- A Plan for Every City 204 -- Chapter 10 Pets and Pets 207 -- Impoverished and Fragmented Habitats 208 -- Wildlife as a Nuisance 211 -- Chapter 11 Designing Wildlife Habitats 215 -- Food, water, Cover and Territory 216 -- Creating Viable Habitats 218 -- Designing the Metropolis for Wildlife 223 -- A Plan for Every City 225 -- Part VI The Urban Ecosystem: Chapter 12 The City as an Infernal Machine 229 -- The Costs of Waste 231 -- Unforeseen Consequences 235 -- Chapter 13 Designing the Urban Ecosystem 242 -- Pathways of Energy and Pollution 244 -- Using Energy Efficiently 246 -- Exploiting Urban Wastes 250 -- Perceiving the Whole 254 -- A Plan for Every City 260 -- Epilogue Visions of the Future 263 -- The Infernal City 265 -- The Celestial City 268 -- Notes 279 -- Bibliography 290 -- Lists of Illustrations 315 -- Index 321 -- Figures: Figure 1.1 Boston in 1806, on the eve of great expansion. Within eighty years, tidal flats at the base of Mount Vernon a, the Mill Pond b, and Back Bay C, were filled and built upon 16 -- Figure 1.2 Filled land in Boston, 1982. Much of Boston, like other coastal cities, is built upon filled land. Landfill provides opportunities for expansion, but leaves a legacy of problems 17 -- Figure 1.3 Cutting off the top of Beacon Hill to fill the Mill Pond, 1811 19 -- Figure 1.4 View of Boston, 1870. Building construction on the newly crated land in Back Bay is proceeding rapidly 20 -- Figure 1.5 Steam shovel loading fill onto train bound for Back Bay, ca 1859. Two steam shovels did the work of two hundred men, loading a thirty five car train in ten minutes. This steam shovel was among the first produced in the United States 21 -- Figure 1.6 The Water Celebration on Boston Common, October 25, 1848, inaugurating the new water supply with bands, parades, cannon, and gushing fountains. Cause for celebration was short lived. Within five years, water use exceeded expectations, and Boston again faced a water crisis 24 -- Figure 1.7 Map of sixteenth century Cologne, Germany. This plan illustrates the close relationship between city and countryside, typical of many cities in medieval Europe. Note the gardens and street trees within the city wall the tree lined path along the moat, and the agricultural fields just outside the wall 30 -- Figure 1.8 Ebenezer Howard’s summary of the ancient debate of advantages of city versus country life. Howard proposed to combine benefits of both in the Garden City 32 -- Figure 1.9 the Garden City, as envisioned by Ebenezer Howard in 1902, recalled many aspects of Thomas More’s Utopian city. Aspiring to the integration of nature and city, the garden city and the new towns and suburbs it inspired incorporated the trappings of nature, but failed to address under lying natural processes 33 -- Figure1.10 View of the United States at night form satellite. Photographs from airplanes and remote sensing from satellites have revolutionized our perception of the world. Here, lights of the cities from urban constellations. 34 -- Figure 1.11 Urban constellations delineated by Philip H. Lewis, Jr., from satellite image, most surrounding a large wilderness area 35 -- Figure 1.12 Circle City, and urban constellation formed by Chicago, Milwaukee, Eau Claire, Minneapolis St. Paul, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, and many smaller towns, containing 15 million people. The country side in the middle is Circle City’s Central Park 36 -- Figure 2.1 The formation of inversions in valley cities and street canyons, both a result of the same processes 50 -- Figure 2.2 Reduction of wind speed over city and suburb, expressed here as percentage of gradient winds, those winds uninfluenced by surface friction. Winds, slowed by the complex building surface in cities, may be half as strong at ground level as in level countryside 51 -- Figure 2.3 Temperature contours in greater London each contour represents a temperature change of 1 degree F clearly demonstrate the origin of the term urban heat island. The innermost circle, the center of London is 12 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the outermost circle at the metropolitan outer skirts 53 -- Figure 2.4 Shopping mall heat island, generated by dense buildings and surrounding parking lot. Here air above the center of the parking lot innermost circle is 4 degrees centigrade hotter than in a suburban neighborhood one block away 54 -- Figure 2.5 Pattern of air pollution in a street canyon, a function of wind direction and shape and size of the canyon. Note that smoke emitted at the rooftop may be swept down to street level 57 -- Figure 2.6 A traffic island park in Cambridge, Massachusetts, enveloped in exhaust from buses, cars, and trucks. Anyone sitting there inhales a poisonous atmosphere 58 -- Figure 3.1 The daily cycle of thermal breezes along shorelines and in cities, both formed by the identical principle. As warm air rises over a heated surface e.g., along the shoreline, the ground by day and the water by night, cooler air is sucked in to replace it initiating a breeze in calm weather 65 -- Figure 3.2 The complex pattern of winds around an isolated building creates conditions where a person may sit in comfort in one spot and be knocked over by the force of the wind in a spot only twenty feet away. Wind speeds increase with height, so that winds with different parts f the building with varying force 66 -- Figure 3.3 Dutch woonerf, a residential street with special traffic regulations where cars share the street with people and gardens 69 -- Figure 3.4 Plans show how existing streets are converted into woonerven. The roadway is narrowed, parking consolidated, and benches, trees, and gardens added 70 -- Figure 3.5 The problem: lead is concentrated in air, soil, and plants along streets, a function of traffic sped, volume, and distance from roadway. Here, along a street averaging 24,000 vehicles per day, under calm conditions, lead in the air above the street is sixteen times the normal urban atmospheric lead content falling off to eight times normal fifty metro 164 feet away. 71 -- Figure 3.6 The solution: a multifaceted approach to limit air pollution exposure along streets: traffic regulations to reduce the production of lead and other pollutants; landscaping to capture particulates; and setbacks to minimize exposure. Traffic volume determines size of setback 71 -- Figure 3.7 Using plants to reduce particulate air pollution. Certain types and arrangements of plants to create effective air filters 72 -- Figure 3.8 Paley Park, one of the most intensively used parks in New York City, a comfortable, shady haven 75 -- Figure 3.9 Plan of Paley Park, showing the simplicity with which, its climatic effect is achieved: a waterfall, vine covered walls, and a canopy of trees 75 -- Figure 3.10 Model of downtown Dayton in wind tunnel used to predict wind problems and test solutions. Studies of the entire city rather than a single building reveal that small changes can have unexpected and far reaching consequences. Air blowing through spires and across grid simulated wind behavior as it approaches Dayton over the surrounding suburbs 79 -- Figure 3.11 Turf block parking lot. Grass grows in the holes of precast concrete blocks, kept short by traffic. This material absorbs far less heat than asphalt 81 -- Figure 3.12 Air flow patterns in Stuttgart, Germany. At night, under calm condition, cool, clean air flows down the hillsides into the city, pushing out hot, dirty air in the downtown 83 -- Figure 4.1 Map of damaging earthquakes recorded in the United States, showing dense clusters along the Pacific Coast, around Boston and in southeastern Missouri 93 -- Figure 4.2 Veterans Administration Hospital in Sylmar, California, damaged by San Fernando earthquake of 1971. The smashed central structures were built in 1926; the intact outer structures were built later, after building codes required earthquake resistant construction 96 -- Figure 4.3 Map showing areas of the United States prone to swelling soils. Inflicting more property damage each year than any other natural hazard, swelling soils are nevertheless a frequently unrecognized problem 98 -- Figure 4.4 View of Long Beach, California, showing degree of ground subsidence since1920 cause by oil and gas extraction. Numerals indicate how many feet ground has sunk. Parts of the harbor have sunk twenty nine feet and are now well bellow sea level, protected from flooding by expensive levees 99 -- Figure 4.5 The compaction of city soils retards water infiltration and drainage, inhibits gas exchange, creates an oxygen deficient environment, eliminates soil organisms, prevents root growth, and increases thermal conductivity 104 -- Figure 4.6 Taken over a period of twelve years, this series of photographs demonstrates the fate of an award winning landscape design that failed to take account of underlying soil and drainage conditions. Widespread disregard for urban soils accounts for poor survival rates of urban street trees and landscaping 106 -- Figure 5.1 Principal earthquake zones of the world. Each dot on this map represents an earthquake; together they clearly delineate borders of continental plates along which earthquakes commonly occur. All of Japan and most of Central America lie within earthquake zones 111 -- Figure 5.2 Earthquake hazard areas as delineated by San Francisco in its Community Safety Plan. The nature and degree of risk vary widely from one part of the city to another, differences which the city’s plans must take into account 112 -- Figure 5.3 Community gardens in Boston, converted from derelict land on vacant lots 120 -- Figure 6.1 Floodplain dynamics. Rivers overflow onto their flood plains with predictable frequency, and structures built within the floodplain area risk destruction 132 -- Figure 6.2 Monster Soup commonly called Thames water. Being a correct representation of the precious stuff doled out to us. Microcosm dedicated to the London Water Company. A cartoon by Paul Pry, 1829 135 -- Figure 6.1 Plan for the Fans, Boston, 1887, showing retention basins a and dredged river channels b designed to prevent flooding in adjacent areas, and a tidal gate, c to prevent water stagnation. Modern, innovative projects in Chicago and Denver are based on some of the same principles 147 -- Figure 7.2 The Riverway, Boston, ca 1892, showing graded embankments ready for planting. To the right, a mound separates the park from a recently installed trolley line 149 -- Figure 7.3 The Riverway approximately thirty years after construction, having achieved a wholly natural appearance, the adjacent trolley line now hidden behind mound and plants 149 -- Figure 7.4 A rocky cascade at Bishop’s Lodge, New Mexico, part of a man made system of waterfalls and sculpted channels designed to treat sewage effluent 152 -- Figure 7.5 Natural Valley Storage areas, Boston: wetlands purchased as part of a flood control program to store floodwaters until peal flows subside downstream. The 8,500 acres of wetlands cast one tenth of the price of dams and levees a more traditional approach would have entailed 155 -- Figure 7.6a Natural valley storage area in summer, with both the Charles River and adjacent wetlands clearly visible 156 -- Figure 7.6b The same area after spring floods, the river channel and wetlands now a single entity. Wetlands not only provide overflow space, but also absorb flood waters. Had these wetlands been built upon, this water would have flooded downtown Boston 156 -- Figure 7.7 The Platte River Greenway. Designed to accommodate both flood waters and recreation, the Greenway is now Denver’s largest single park with 450 acres and fifteen miles of interconnected trails 157 -- Figure 7.8 Confluence Park, a flood proof plaza near the heart of downtown Denver, affording a place to launch rafts and kayaks and an overview of the slalom run 160 -- Figure 7.9 Skyline Plaza in downtown Denver ponds up to several inches of stormwater, releasing it gradually. There is a space to detain stormwater even in the most congested parts of cities 162 -- Figure 7.10 Aquifers underlying Houston and Woodlands, Texas. The new town of Woodlands was designed so that rain would continue to soak into the ground to replenish the Chicot and Evangeline aquifers, from which nearby Houston draws its water supply 164 -- Figure 7.11 The natural drainage system at Woodlands, Texas, exploits well drained soils to absorb rainfall and wooded swales and stream valleys to carry off the stormwaters, thereby preventing floods downstream. Using existing, wooded floodplains for the storm drainage system secured a linked system of parks and trails throughout the town and saved millions of dollars 165 -- Figure 8.1 Urban street trees contend with great stress: intense heat or dense shade, air pollution, damage, from automobiles and vandalism, paved ground surface and compacted, infertile soil, contaminated runoff, and limited soil space. No wonder the average life span of an urban street tree may be as low as ten years 176 -- Figure 8.2 sheep grazing the lawn of Franklin Park in Boston, ca 1916, now preplaced by lawn mowers. Sheep still graze lawns of many English estates 181 -- Figure 9.1 Distribution of major plant formations, primarily a response to rainfall and temperature patterns. Both the structure of the formation and form of individual species are adapted to those factors 187 -- Figure 9.2 Two rows of street trees on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., showing response to different soil conditions. The same size when planted four years earlier, sidewalk trees are now noticeably smaller that those in open soil, despite the elaborate system constructed to support them 191 -- Figure 9.3 The problem is the teacup syndrome, common cause of death in newly planted urban trees. In wet seasons, accumulated water sits in tree pits, unable to drain, and tree roots rot; in drought, roots cannot penetrate compacted subsoil to reach ground water 192 -- Figure 9.4 The solution: planting techniques that permit air and water to move through the soil and provide room for roots to grow will increase both life span and size of urban trees 192 -- Figure 9.5 Meadow and woods at Brook Farm, site of an experimental nineteenth century community, one of many urban wilds throughout Boston within minutes of densely populated areas. Frequently, urban wilds have historic, ecological, or aesthetic significance 201 -- Figure 11.1 Principles of biography applied to the design of wildlife habitat. The increase species diversity, larger areas are preferable to smaller, and wider dimensions preferable to narrower 219 -- Figure 11.2 Rock Creek Park and Mount Auburn Cemetery, two large urban parks that owe the diversity and abundance of wildlife to their location along river corridors linking city and countryside 220 -- Figure 11.3 Correlation between bird diversity and abundance and urban landscape in Rock Creek Park and adjacent Washington, D.C., neighborhoods. Songbirds, common within the park and landscaped neighborhood to the west, are rare in the barren, densely settled neighborhoods to the east. Pest species are far more prominent on the east 222 -- Figure 12.1 Every resource imported to the city, when consumed, produces waste in the form of sewage, garbage, or air pollutants 232 -- Figure 12.2 The spread of lead from automobile exhaust through air, water, earth, and organisms of the roadside ecosystem, along pathways of air, water, and nutrient cycles 236 -- Figure 13.1 The problem: parks requiring major inputs of energy and producing polluting wastes 248 -- Figure 13.2 The solution: parks designed and managed as closed systems, consuming fewer resources and producing fewer wastes 249 -- Figure 13.3 The Dallas Ecological Study identified the White Rock Escarpment as an important environmental resource and hazard. Here, in the lower corner on two computer drawn maps of the Dallas region, it appears as an area extremely sensitive to urbanization. Map a is of relative tolerance of the geomorphic subsystem and map b of the zoological subsystem. Darkest tones represent the most sensitive areas, lightest tones the most tolerant 256 -- Tables: Table 2.1 Characteristics of Urban Climate 42 -- Table 2.2 Sources of Mayor Air Pollutants 44 -- Table 2.3 Definition of Pollutant Standard Index PSI Values 47 -- Table2.4 Ranking of Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas SMSA Using Pollutant Standard Index PSI Air Pollution Data, 1975 1977 48 -- Table 2.5 Frequency of Unhealthy Air Quality in Four Cities 49 -- Table 4.1 Concentration of Elements in Urbana, Illinois, Street Dust 103 -- Table 5.1 Grading Regulations and Property Damage Reduction, Los Angeles, California, 1969 116 -- Table 5.2 Projected Losses Due to Geological Problems in California and Potential Loss Reduction, for the period 1970 to 2000 123 -- Table 9.1 Urban Vegetation Habitat Types 186 --
9780465027064 0465026990 0465027067
83070767
City planning--Environmental aspects. Landscape architecture Human ecology