New York City’s Green Infrastructure Plan and Sustainability Management
Adapting to the Environmental Challenge
“While New York is by no means the first city to develop green infrastructure, the scale and ambition of this effort is impressive,” writes Steven Cohen in his blog on the Huffington Post.
“The move from over reliance on 'grey infrastructure' to the combined use of green and 'grey' techniques is an indication of the growth of sustainability management in New York City's government. My hope is this represents the beginning of a trend that will expand as we learn more and as our large institutions adapt creatively to the challenges of growing our economy while preserving our planet.”
About Steven Cohen
Steven Cohen is the Executive Director of Columbia University’s Earth Institute and is also Director of the Master of Public Administration Program in Environmental Science and Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
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About the New York Plan
New York's Green Infrastructure Plan presents an alternative approach to improving water quality that integrates 'green infrastructure', such as swales and green roofs, with investments to optimize the existing system and to build targeted, smaller-scale 'grey' or traditional infrastructure.
This is a multi-pronged, modular, and adaptive approach to a complicated problem that will provide widespread, immediate benefits at a lower cost. The green infrastructure component of this strategy builds upon and reinforces the strong public and government support that will be necessary to make additional water quality investments.
A critical goal of the green infrastructure component is to manage runoff from 10% of the impervious surfaces in combined sewer watersheds through detention and infiltration source controls.
Posted October 2010