Green Infrastructure and its Applications on the University of Arizona Campus

Abstract

Cities all around the world are experiencing new challenges in the wake of climate change. In the United States the effects of climate change, coupled with failing infrastructure, are leading to major problems when it comes to flooding and storm water management. With the predicted increase and severity of storm events due to climate change, storm water mitigation is becoming an important task for planners, engineers, and landscape architects. Green infrastructure is emerging as a solution to these challenges where in place of traditional infrastructure multi-layered systems that mimic natural processes are being used to capture, treat and infiltrate storm water on site. This capstone examines the various components of green infrastructure design and how it can be utilized on the University of Arizona campus. This research, in addition to quantitative storm water calculations, have been used to inform the re-design of a site on campus using green infrastructure practices to mitigate flooding and capture storm water runoff. Through a carefully planned green infrastructure approach, the proposed design captures 90% of the storm water that falls in a 100-year, 60-minute design storm on site.