Center for Urban Resilience, Innovation and Infrastructure (CURII)

Oaks make up a significant proportion of the urban forest in Washington, DC. Of the top ten most important species in the District’s urban forest, two are oaks, Quercus palustris, and Q. alba (iTree 2015). Given the importance of oaks in providing benefits to both human and wildlife residents, heightened mortality of oaks could have wide-ranging impacts on the urban forest in Washington, DC. This research project will assess the current condition and survival of oak trees among street trees in the District of Columbia. Oak trees will be evaluated for the presence of pests or pathogens, as well as abiotic factors that may negatively impact urban trees. This work will be coordinated with public, private, institutional, and federal property owners across the District.

The goal of this project is to develop an innovative life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) framework that will measure the environmental, economic, and societal impacts of specialty crops grown in aquaponics and hydroponics systems compared to a traditional soil-based system. The LCSA tool can also be utilized to measure the impacts of packaging, transport, and distribution. The aim is to study end-to-end impacts, from food production to marketing and distribution, to understand how these soilless systems could be more widely adopted.

Filling this critical knowledge gap will aid the development of a robust and sustainable soilless urban agriculture system in DC, help our communities recover from the impacts of COVID-19 by building sustainable businesses, and enhance the resilience of urban farmers and food businesses.

Stormwater management is a vital concern for urban areas where a lack of natural landscaping can cause excess water from rain events to gather on surfaces such as roads and parking lots, leading to a risk of flooding and polluted waters. Green Infrastructure is an approach to stormwater management that uses plants and other natural elements to mimic the natural water cycle, reducing the risk of flooding and pollution. The District Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE) and UDC have developed an innovative green stormwater infrastructure approach to manage stormwater runoff from an urban parking lot by installing tree cells to allow the runoff to filtered and absorbed back into the ground. In addition, UDC is evaluating the effectiveness of systems for safe rainwater reuse from rain gardens, another green infrastructure practice. A prototype project for innovative stormwater management was designed and researched at the UDC Bertie Backus Campus. This research will be used to help the reach the District’s urban sustainability and urban resiliency goals.

Urban Agriculture is a rapidly expanding movement that can provide multiple environmental, social, and economic benefits to local communities. Urban farms and gardens provide produce to communities, beautify the city, improve air quality, moderate temperature, and provide critical social infrastructure. However, if improperly managed, activities from urban farms and gardens can negatively affect water quality. Impacts from urban farming activities on water quality can be minimized by using adaptive best management practices (BMPs).

The University of the District of Columbia and the Low Impact Development Center have developed an innovative model that integrates urban agriculture into green infrastructure projects in Washington, DC. Prototype BMPs have been set up and are being monitored at three existing UDC CAUSES’ urban “Food Hubs” located in underserved areas of the District. This research project focuses on using innovative, simple, and economically feasible methods to control stormwater at the community and household scale. At-risk youth from the community were provided with training and technical support to construct the projects.

In this project, we leverage substantial existing green roof research facilities and monitoring infrastructure established by UDC as well as Stevens Institute of Technology (Stevens). These include a 20,000 ft² combined agricultural/extensive/intensive green roof at UDC, and a purpose-built field testing facility at Stevens hosting up to 40 pilot-scale green roofs. Existing monitoring of these sites means that this research submitted to DOEE will benefit from pre-project data, as well as existing experience by managing both sites in UDC and Stevens without the usual start-up learning curve. We generated quantitative data on storm event water quality and retention from multiple design combinations (substrate compositions) of extensive green roofs, agricultural green roofs, and a conventional (black) roof. We tested new materials in two configurations, including an innovative method suitable for retrofit of existing green roofs, for their ability to enhance green roof water quality. The key questions we endeavor to answer include: Should agricultural green roofs receive credit for stormwater mitigation? Does regular irrigation compromise stormwater retention? To what extent do substrate (growing media) and composition depth influence retention? Does water quality differ amongst green roof design configurations, and if so, why? Do innovative materials including zeolite and/or biochar enhance water quality in green roof discharge?

Many cities develop and implement urban sustainability plans by installing green infrastructure (green streets, rain gardens, and bioswales.) While these projects provide many physical and mental health benefits to urban residents, the long-term viability of low-income communities is threatened. The installation of green infrastructure can result in raised property values, displaced residents and businesses, and obliteration of local culture (Richards 2020, Anguelovski et al 2018, Cole et al 2017.) These outcomes have been documented in the District (Quander 2019). CURII staff hosted a series of small listening sessions within the District to understand local residents’ perception of green infrastructure, including its potential relationship to gentrification and is currently reviewing this data as well as the academic literature on this topic in order to determine best management practices going forward.

In urban areas, sustainable energy production, urban agriculture, and stormwater management are often competing for land and space. UDC is working with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to develop and test an urban farming system that collects and uses its own water and energy (closed-loop). This system will be used to generate guidelines and planting recommendations for growing specialty crops under solar panels in the DC region, allowing local farmers to continue to produce food while also making use of sustainable energy and stormwater management practices.

The Water Resources Research Institute (WRRI) is housed within CURII. The mission of WRRI is to provide the District of Columbia with interdisciplinary research  support to  identify DC water  resources  problems  and contribute  to their solution. The institute  provides  training  and   disseminates  research  findings that address water issues in the D.C. area, and  beyond. The institute also supports collaborative research that engages not only faculty members and students but also a broad array of stakeholders to address regional water issues in a holistic way. Areas of focus include drinking water source protection, stormwater management and planning, water safety, and watershed stewardship.

For more information on WRRI, click  here.