Paper

Greenways as an Integrative Framework for Campus Green Infrastructure: A Stormwater Masterplan Vision for the University of Connecticut

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Abstract

The increasingly resonant concept of green infrastructure has multiple meanings among different professional sectors and the public. For engineers and others focused on site-scale intervention, green infrastructure is quite specific to the use of low impact development (LID) techniques for stormwater management. To the general public, the concept of green infrastructure may be more simply thought of as environmentally friendly systems of transportation, energy, water, or other communal needs. For land use, urban, and landscape planners, the concept of green infrastructure more broadly represents the idea of open space networks of ecological, social and cultural value – which has its roots in the greenways movement.

This paper will present a recent national design competition submission’s framework for campus stormwater masterplanning as it represents the intersection of greenway planning, green infrastructure and stormwater management. Unlike other kinds of complex communities, campuses have the potential to be totally integrated environments, with all land and infrastructure controlled by one entity. Campuses also have distinct combinations of landscape typologies such as quadrangles, pedestrian corridors, outdoor classrooms, athletic fields, and parking lots which present large scale opportunities for integrating the needs of stormwater, green space, pedestrian and vehicular movement, learning, and social interaction. As such, the basics of this greenway-based stormwater framework can be applied to any campus, regardless of setting.

Keywords: greenways, campus, green infrastructure, stormwater, connecticut, university

How to Cite:

Schwab, K., (2013) “Greenways as an Integrative Framework for Campus Green Infrastructure: A Stormwater Masterplan Vision for the University of Connecticut”, Fábos Conference on Landscape and Greenway Planning 4(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.7275/fabos.724