Floodable Public Space for Resilient Urban Water Systems: Potential for the City of Seattle

MLA Candiate Professional Project Thesis: Seattle Public Utilities’ Drainage & Wastewater System Planning Group

Full text available: https://issuu.com/juliabrasch9/docs/brasch_thesis_floodableseattle

Keywords floodable space, flood resilience, multifunctional public space, green stormwater infrastructure

Description

As a professional project for Seattle Public Utilities, this thesis explores the potential of the urban landscape to act as an integral piece of water infrastructure as a means of adapting to climate change, mitigating ecological impacts to our waterways, and creating dynamic, multifunctional public spaces. An investigation in support of SPU’s Integrated System Plan, this thesis will explore the following questions:

• What do examples of floodable spaces from around the world teach us about how effectively they deliver functional drainage performance along with usable open space?

• How could Seattle benefit from this concept, and what are priority locations?

• How might a framework for floodable spaces in a Seattle neighborhood provide recreational space in tandem with drainage function for climate resilience and ecological health?

This thesis makes the case for the utilization of a floodable public realm as a beneficial tool in the green infrastructure toolbox that can more effectively address the problems associated with urban flooding from increased precipitation as a result of climate change. Making more room for the presence of water in the urban environment will not only eventually become a necessity, but also has the potential to provide the multiple benefits that SPU seeks to catalyze with its future infrastructure investments.

4 SECTIONS:

- Relevant Case Studies: Copenhagen, Denmark and Rotterdam, Netherlands

- Citywide Analysis: Identifying Priority Locations for Floodable Spaces in Seattle

- Focus Area District Analysis: Densmore Basin

- Floodable Spaces in the Lower Densmore Basin

FLOODABLE SPACE DEFINITION: Designated areas that are intentionally designed with the capacity to periodically accommodate floodwaters in order to prevent flooding elsewhere, and that simultaneously accommodate other functions, such as usable open space.