Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Summer 2016 - 28

PROFILES MATRIX COST-BENEFIT ESTIMATES SITE GREENING HARLEM: Frederick Douglass Blvd. to Malcolm X Blvd., 116th St. to 121st St. CITIESALIVE NYC 2015 LEAVES ITS LEGACY AND PLANTS SEEDS FOR THE FUTURE I OF THIS HISTORIC COMMUNITY INVESTMENT $10 million on Green Infrastructure, including 130,000 ft2 of Intensive Green Roofs, 23,000 ft2 of Bioswales, 46,500 ft2 of Permeable Paving, and 500 Street Trees OUTCOMES 170 One-Time Construction FTE Positions, 7 Annual Maintenance FTE Positions $1.2 Million in Annual Public and Private Benefits Public Return of Investment - $10.2 Million (25 Years) / $34.4 million (50 Years) WRITTEN BY ROHAN LILAUWALA Imagine what could be? Harlem in New York City is a neighborhood that has many positive opportunities: it is vibrant, historic, rich in art and culture, and located in the nation's financial and cultural capital. At the same time, poverty, unemployment, displacement, and a lack of green space are all ongoing challenges. LIVING ARCHITECTURE MONITOR / SUMMER 2016 / 28 n March, 2015, the Green Infrastructure Foundation (a charitable organization affiliated with Green Roofs for Healthy Cities) embarked on Greening Harlem, the legacy project of the 2015 CitiesAlive Conference to address these very challenges. In partnership with the Canaan Baptist Church, Crauderueff & Associates and other community leaders, the project engaged stakeholders and design experts in a design charrette in order to reimagine Harlem transformed through the intensive application of green infrastructure, as well as renewable technologies like solar panels. Interdisciplinary teams worked to redesign three study areas with fifteen types of green infrastructure, ranging from a few buildings owned by the Canaan Baptist Church to ten-block sites containing a mix of uses. Charrette participants had many bold ideas, including the large-scale implementation of green roofs and establishing an intensive urban farm featuring green roof and aeroponic food production to bring jobs and economic activity to Harlem. The boldest vision, however, was the conversion of St. Nicholas Avenue into a pedestrian and cyclist-oriented 'greenway', called the New Harlem Lane, which would be lined with bioswales, street trees, and cafes, creating a natural connection from Central Park to Morningside Park and Marcus Garvey Park. The redesigns were subject to an economic analysis using a customized cost-benefit matrix (see sidebar for results of one redesign), and the Canaan Baptist Church's building portfolio was also analyzed to determine what technologies were feasible in the short term. "A main goal of this effort is to spur economic development and improve quality of life in Harlem through urban sustainable technologies and green infrastructure," said Dakota Pippins, CEO of Pippins Strategies, Adjunct Associate READ THIS ISSUE ONLINE AT LIVINGARCHITECTUREMONITOR.COM http://www.LIVINGARCHITECTUREMONITOR.COM

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