GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE RESOURCE GUIDE | 19 BEST PRACTICES: SITE DESIGN develop the plan. This district-scale plan received input from the American Institute of Architects’ Sustainable Design Assessment Team, the Sustainable Places Project, made possible by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Texas Urban Futures Lab, an initiative of the University of Texas School of Architecture. In a later stage, the City won technical assistance through the EPA’s “Greening of America’s Capitals” program. This allowed them to bring in landscape architecture and urban design firms to further assist with specific designs for parks, streetscapes, and other green infrastructure features. City government representatives contributed as part of a Technical Advisory Group. These included the Transportation Department, Water Utility, Capital Planning, Economic Development, Office of Sustainability, Parks and Recreation, Public Works, and Watershed Protection Department.58 • In 2009, Seattle Public Utilities, along with an extensive team of professionals and stakeholders, completed the Thornton Creek Water Quality Channel stream restoration project in a densely populated area of Seattle, providing much-needed public green space. This integrated team included numerous government departments, landscape architects, maintenance staff, ecologists and soil specialists, structural, civil, and electrical engineers, hydraulic modelers, artists, and organized citizen stakeholders. The restored stream provides numerous benefits, including pedestrian links than connect transit stops, wildlife habitat and accompanying educational signs, improved water quality, and a revitalized real estate market.59 RESOURCES: • National Recreation and Park Association: Green Infrastructure in Parks: Small-Scale, Low-Cost Green Stormwater Management Projects for Parks and Public Lands (recorded webinar). • Water Environment Federation: Multidisciplinary approach, community engagement for green infrastructure (and related book: Green Infrastructure Implementation.)60 • EPA: Green Infrastructure in Parks: A Guide to Collaboration, Community Engagement and Funding. BEST PRACTICE: LISTEN TO AND EMPOWER THE COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION: It is important to engage community members such as residents, businesses, and community organizations early and often in the planning, design, and implementation process. Involving stakeholders at the beginning is the best way to secure support. Incorporate their ideas into the design, and tailor projects to meet their needs. This includes addressing equity through engagement of residents of underserved communities (see Ann Froschauer/USFWS A stream restoration project in Seattle, WA benefited from the oversight of a multi-disciplinary team.
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