Scope Note
Topics related to infrastructure include:
- Energy
- Food Supply
- Housing
- Transporation
- Water Supply
Books
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Sustainable Transportation
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During the past two decades, sustainability has become the dominant concern of transportation planners and policymakers. This timely text provides a framework for developing systems that move people and products efficiently while minimizing damage to the local and global environment. The book offers a uniquely comprehensive perspective on the problems surrounding current transportation systems: climate change, urban air pollution, diminishing petroleum reserves, safety issues, and congestion. It explores the full range of possible solutions, including applications of pricing, planning, policy, education, and technology. Numerous figures, tables, and examples are featured, with a primary focus on North America.
Call Number: 388 B561sISBN: 9781606234853Publication Date: 2010-01-04 -
An Introduction to Sustainable Transportation
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Explores the concepts of sustainable development and sustainable transportation, describes practical techniques for comprehensive evaluation, provides tools for multi-modal transport planning, and presents innovative mobility management solutions to transportation problems. Students of various disciplines, planners, policymakers and concerned citizens will find many of its provocative ideas and approaches of considerable value as they engage in the processes of understanding and changing transportation towards greater sustainability.
Call Number: 388.068 Sch335iISBN: 9781844076642Publication Date: 2010-04-02 -
Sustainable Transportation Planning
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As transportations-related disciplines of urban planning, architecture, landscape architecture, urban economics, and social policy have undergone major internal reform efforts in recent decades Written in clear, easy-to-follow language, this book provides planning practitioners with the tools they need to achieve their cities? economic development, social equity and ecological sustainability goals. Starting with detailed advice for improving each mode of transportation, the book offers guidance on balancing the needs of each mode against each other, whether on a downtown street, or a small town neighborhood, or a regional network.
Call Number: 388.4 T832sISBN: 9780470540930Publication Date: 2012-01-24
Reports and web sites
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Adapting Cities for Climate Change: The Role of the Green Infrastructure The urban environment has distinctive biophysical eatures in relation to surrounding rural areas. These include an altered energy exchange creating an urban heat island, and changes to hydrology such as increased surface runoff of rainwater. Such changes are, in part, a result of the altered surface cover of the urban area. Climate change will amplify these distinctive features. This paper explores the important role that the green infrastructure, i.e. the greenspace network, of a city can play in adapting for climate change. It uses the conurbation of Greater Manchester as a case study site. The paper presents output from energy exchange and hydrological models showing surface temperature and surface runoff in relation to the green infrastructure under current and future climate scenarios.
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The Blue Economy New Strategies for Optimizing Our Most Precious Resource The U.S. is on the cusp of a new era: big cities and rural communities alike are tackling their water challenges with innovative solutions that were once thought impossible. A new movement is afoot to find new small-scale sources of water in a world that is increasingly susceptible to the unpredictable whims of climate change.
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Building Resilient Utilities On August 21-22, 2013, The Johnson Foundation at Wingspread convened experts from the energy and water utility sectors to discuss how the two sectors can become more resilient and sustainable. The discussion quickly moved to the “utility of the future” and “customer of the future,” focusing on how the traditional silos of electricity, water supply and wastewater can be integrated. The resulting report explores the opportunities discussed during the convening; identifies hurdles to cross-sector collaboration and presents strategies for creating the integrated utilities of the future.
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Catalyzing the Transformation of U.S. Water Infrastructure On April 17-19, 2013, The Johnson Foundation at Wingspread brought together participants from a wide range of expertise and perspectives on water, waste, infrastructure and governance to explore the intersection between urban water infrastructure and climate change. The resulting report captures key outcomes from the dialog – in particular, how advances in water infrastructure can help communities address climate change, including promising opportunities to mitigate it and adapt to its impacts. As we consider the structure, function and purpose of future water infrastructure systems, it is imperative that we do so within the context of a changing climate and the impacts that climate shifts, variable and erratic weather conditions and water availability will have on our communities. This report offers initial insights and recommendations on the transition.
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Defining a Resilient Business Model for Water Utilities This project will help utilities address the challenges of revenue gaps, which are exacerbated by rising customer expectations, declining water consumption, aging infrastructure, and necessary integration of utility finance functions with asset management, environmental justice, risk management, and other initiatives. The products of this project lay the groundwork for a shift in thinking by utilities to modernize financial and management practices by strengthening linkages among systems, processes, and decision-making practices. In addition to the research report, the project produced two spreadsheet tools: a Revenue Risk Assessment Tool and Customer Assistance Program Cost Estimation Tool. Both tools and accompanying tutorial videos are available on this project page under Project Resources/Web Tools.
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Enhancing Sustainable Communities With Green Infrastructure Aims to help local governments, water utilities, nonprofit organizations, neighborhood groups, and other stakeholders integrate green infrastructure strategies into plans that can transform their communities. Many communities that want to use green infrastructure approaches face technical, regulatory, financial, and institutional obstacles that limit widespread implementation. This report serves as a guide to develop a plan that can overcome these obstacles for neighborhoods, towns, cities, and regions of all sizes. It helps stakeholders create a vision for how green infrastructure can enhance their communities--a vision that engages residents and inspires them to take action. It also directs readers to other resources that provide more detailed information that can be tailored to communities' particular climate, goals, and circumstances.
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Green Infrastructure: Lessons from Science and Practice Green infrastructure is the use of trees, plants, and open space to help reduce floods and water pollution. Green infrastructure can provide many benefits for public health, local communities, and the environment. Across the US cities and towns are turning to green infrastructure to provide much-needed updates to aging storm water management systems. That is why understanding the strengths and limits of green infrastructure is relevant and timely, according to a new report released by scientists from Syracuse University, the Cary Institute, and the Harvard Forest, in partnership with the Science Policy Exchange.
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Green Infrastructure and Climate Change: Collaborating to Improve Community Resiliency Green roofs, trees, and other vegetation can provide many benefits to communities, including reducing heat islands, managing flood risk, building resilience to drought, reducing building energy demand, and reducing the energy needed to manage drinking water and wastewater. EPA has published a report on how four communities (Albuquerque, New Mexico; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Los Angeles, California; and New Orleans, Louisiana) have used green infrastructure to achieve multiple benefits while building their resilience to changes in climate.
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Green Infrastructure Collaborative The Green Infrastructure Collaborative consists of more than 20 organizations committed to advancing the adoption of green infrastructure as a means of supporting water quality and community development goals. This broad group of signatories includes academia, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector.
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Green Infrastructure Cost-Benefit Resources Green infrastructure can be a cost-effective approach to improve water quality and help communities stretch their infrastructure investments further by providing multiple environmental, economic, and community benefits. On this page, learn more about how other communities have realized cost savings through their green infrastructure programs as well as about tools you can use to inform your own cost-benefit analysis.
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Green Infrastructure Wizard (GIWiz) offers you access to a repository of EPA-sourced Green Infrastructure tools and resources designed to support and promote sustainable water management and community planning decisions. The tools and resources available through GIWiz will help you analyze problems, understand management options, calculate design parameters, analyze costs and benefits, evaluate tradeoffs, engage stakeholders, and/or develop education and outreach campaigns. Click on Quick Links to select Learn, Research, Design, or Assess options. When you select an option, the tool will ask you questions to help narrow your focus. Click on Explore to browse resources. Again, the tool asks you who you are, what you’d like to do, what resources you’re interested in, etc. It also gives you a keyword search option.
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Green Works for Climate Resilience: A Community Guide to Climate Planning The intent of this guide is to provide communities with an overview of the kinds of nature-based approaches that can be used to respond to and prepare for the impacts of climate change, and provide descriptions and examples of the ways in which communities are already working to implement them, ranging from streamlining adaptation into existing zoning to the development of holistic, multi-sector adaptation plans. Nature-based approaches rely on enhancing, protecting, and restoring natural infrastructure, such as coastal wetlands, parks, and tree canopies, as well as features that mimic natural processes, such as rain gardens or green roofs that are used in low-impact development (LID).
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Illinois Water Supply This guide is intended to help citizens of Illinois find information about Illinois water supplies. It includes information resources from the state and federal government, news sources, and library holdings (including digital collections).
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Infrastructure Crisis, Sustainable Solutions: Rethinking Our Infrastructure Investment Strategie Outlines what the future of sustainable infrastructure may look like and what city and regional leaders must do to facilitate this transformation.
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Managing Vacant and Abandoned Property in the Green Zone of Saginaw, Michigan This report focuses on the reuse of vacant and abandoned property in the city of Saginaw, Michigan. In 2010, the city requested assistance from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to identify options for managing land use and infrastructure in the Green Zone, a 350-acre neighborhood in northeast Saginaw that has the largest concentration of vacant and abandoned property in the city. This report details the results of EPA's study, and is informative for the city of Saginaw, as well as other communities around the country that are facing similar development challenges.
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Managing Wet Weather with Green Infrastructure: Municipal Handbook: Green Infrastructure Retrofit Policies This paper will explore the policies and incentives that municipalities have used to facilitate the use of green infrastructure within their stormwater programs. While the benefits of green infrastructure are increasingly understood, incorporating green retrofits into municipal infrastructure has presented institutional and regulatory challenges. The solutions to overcome these barriers are often dependent upon the water quality objectives and technologies employed. The policies are presented in this paper by technology type, but often approaches used for one green infrastructure practice are applicable to another or there is overlap among goals and outcomes.
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PAH Pollution from Coal Tar Sealants Asphalt sealants are used to improve the appearance and prolong the life of driveways and parking lots. Some of these sealants contain coal tar, a byproduct of coke manufacturing. This brief guide describes the environmental and health impacts of these products and efforts to encourage the use of alternative sealants in the Great Lakes region.
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Smart Management for Small Water Systems Project The Smart Management for Small Water Systems Project seeks to address major issues facing the nation’s smallest drinking water systems (those serving 10,000 or fewer people). Our team of experts works with water systems across the country, US territories, and the Navajo Nation to address these issues, which range from asset management and rate setting to water loss detection and conservation, through training and technical assistance.
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A Triple Bottom Line Assessment of Traditional and Green Infrastructure Options for Controlling CSO Events in Philadelphia's Watersheds The City of Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) is considering a wide array of options for controlling Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) events in its four relevant watershed areas. The options range from traditional infrastructure-based approaches (e.g., storage tunnels) to more innovative "green infrastructure" approaches based largely on Low Impact Development (LID) elements (e.g., tree planting, permeable pavement, green roofs). PWD is especially interested in gaining a more complete understanding of the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) implications of the green and traditional infrastructure approaches in terms of their respective ability to provide environmental, social, public health, and other values. Accordingly, this report provides a TBL-oriented benefit-cost assessment of the CSO control alternatives under consideration by PWD.
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U.S. EPA State and Local Climate and Energy Program The State Climate and Energy Program helps states develop policies and programs that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, lower energy costs, improve air quality and public health, and help achieve economic development goals. EPA provides states with and advises them on proven, cost–effective best practices, peer exchange opportunities, and analytical tools.
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Using Green Infrastructure to Manage Urban Stormwater Quality: A Review of Selected Practices and State Programs: A Draft Report to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Green infrastructure practices, for purposes of this study, are urban stormwater management techniques that rely on natural systems to retain more stormwater on-site through infiltration, evapotranspiration and harvesting for reuse. Implementing green infrastructure practices helps attenuate nutrients and other pollutants and reduce runoff volumes and peak flows. Based on our review of peer-reviewed scientific reports and articles, we found that, on average, many of these practices are as effective as conventional on-site detention basins in reducing total suspended solids and total nitrogen being discharged to waterways and that they can also reduce runoff volumes and peak flows discharged to urban streams, reducing erosion, sedimentation and flood risks.
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Using Nature to Address Flooding This guide of nature-based solutions to flooding includes case studies of successful projects from across the country.
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The Water-Energy Nexus: Challenges and Opportunities Frames an integrated challenge and opportunity space around the water-energy nexus for the Department and its partners, laying the foundation for future efforts. When severe drought affected more than a third of the United States in 2012, limited water availability constrained the operation of some power plants and other energy production activities. Hurricane Sandy demonstrated the compounding ramifications of vital water infrastructure losing power. The recent boom in domestic unconventional oil and gas development has added complexity to the national dialogue on the relationship between energy and water resources.
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Water/Wastewater Utilities and Extreme Climate and Weather Events: Case Studies on Community Response, Lessons Learned, Adaptation, and Planning Needs for the Future This report examines how water, wastewater, and stormwater utilities - and other local water resource managers - make decisions in response to recent extreme weather events. The report is based on the results of six local workshops, organized to include participants that experienced different types of extreme events throughout a river basin or watershed in various regions of the U.S. The study examines what happened, how information was used to inform decisions, what institutional dynamics helped or hindered, and how water utilities and their communities plan to manage impacts and build resiliency for future extreme events. The research was jointly sponsored by EPA, NOAA, Water Environment Research Foundation, Water Research Foundation, Concurrent Technologies Corporation, and Noblis.
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Water quality scorecard : incorporating green infrastructure practices at municipal, neighborhood, and site scales EPA’s Water Quality Scorecard was developed to help local governments identify opportunities to remove barriers, and revise and create codes, ordinances, and incentives for better water quality protection. It guides municipal staff through a review of relevant local codes and ordinances, across multiple municipal departments and at the three scales within the jurisdiction of a local government (municipality, neighborhood, and site), to ensure that these codes work together to protect water quality goals. The two main goals of this tool are to: (1) help communities protect water quality by identifying ways to reduce the amount of stormwater flows in a community and (2) educate stakeholders on the wide range of policies and regulations that have water quality implications.
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Water Resilience Summit Summary & Next Steps The National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) and the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA) hosted a Water Resilience Summit on April 9-10, 2014 in Washington, D.C., as part of Water Week 2014. At the Summit, key municipal and federal agency leaders convened for a two-day discussion to examine the array of challenges facing utilities in light of climate change and, more importantly, to outline the policy and advocacy steps and collaborative actions that could be taken to improve resilience. In short, the Summit focused on how to get things done to ensure the water sector becomes more resilient, while allocating resources and mitigating some of the enormous costs better than in past storm-related, post-disaster recovery and relief efforts. This paper summarizes the outcomes of the Summit discussions.