GREEN ALLEYWAYS
SHEELA BHONGIR WITH MARJORIE PHAN | SAMYRHA SABA BREATHING LIFE INTO THE ALLEYWAYS OF BOYLE HEIGHTS Trees are the lungs of a city purifying the air we breathe. California Proposition 84 defines greening as a “community-based effort to plan, plant, care, and manage flora, structures and spaces, which lead to increased forest canopy, reduced storm water runoff, improved air and water quality, energy conservation, open space and ultimately, more sustainable communities.”1 The urban greening strategy team picked greening alleyways as a way to expand greening. Greening alleyways is a popular strategy which cities such as Chicago have successfully implemented.
FIGURE 1: ALLEYWAYS IN BOYLE HEIGHTS, DEPICTED BASED ON ADJACENT LAND USES Alleys in Boyle Heights
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Commercial (5) Residential (116) Residential & Commercial (55)
“Alleys could offer enormous environmental and public health benefits—if they could be turned green.”2 This solution can close the disproportional gap of park access in Boyle Heights, increase the percentage of surface area covered by trees and permeable surfaces, reduce the heat island effect, encourage recreation and ameliorate asthma. Additionally, green alleys reduce stormwater runoff which pollutes Los Angeles’ receiving water bodies with grease and oil from vehicles and waste from poorly contained trash and rubbish.
THE POTENTIAL “Los Angeles has enough alleys to make for quite a workout—900 linear miles in total. That’s enough pavement to run 34 marathons. If you laid these alleys side by side it’d be 3 square miles—twice the size of New York’s Central Park.”3 Within Boyle Heights, there are approximately 176 alleyways totaling 17 miles. The majority of the alleyways (116) are located in residential areas, meaning residences are on both sides of the alleyway. Figure 1 depicts the 176 alleyways by adjacent land use. For fifty-five alleyways, one side of the alleyway is adjacent to homes and the opposite side is adjacent to stores. Lastly, five alleyways go through commercial uses. The sources used to determine the land uses for Figure 1 were ZIMAS and Google Street view.
Source: Esri, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, i-cubed, USDA, USGS, AEX, Getmapping, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, swisstopo, and the GIS User Community
BOYLE HEIGHTS
BREATHING LIFE INTO THE ALLEYWAYS OF BOYLE HEIGHTS
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