24 | NATIONAL RECREATION AND PARK ASSOCIATION BEST PRACTICES: SITE DESIGN BEST PRACTICE: ESTABLISH A DEMONSTRATION PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Demonstrating the effectiveness of green infrastructure within a community park and documenting success helps to evaluate and showcase how investing in green spaces can be leveraged to improve multiple outcomes, particularly in underserved communities. Demonstration projects can help build momentum and gain stakeholder and community buy-in. It is also an effective way to gain interest and educate designers, engineers, and the community on methods that deviate from conventional approaches. STRATEGIES: • Hold a green infrastructure in parks design competition. • Install a pilot project in a highly-visible community park that illustrates and measures the benefits of integrating green stormwater infrastructure into park settings. • Involve multiple agencies and community members and partners in the pilot process. • Build an outdoor classroom and provide educational materials to inform park visitors of the importance of green stormwater infrastructure practices. EXAMPLES: • TheCoupeville Stormwater Park in Coupeville, Washington is a pilot project to test the capacity for subsurface wetlands to treat stormwater runoff before it is released into the Puget Sound. The pilot project was initiated in 2012 by the Green Futures Lab in partnership with Town of Coupeville, and SvR Design. Project funding was provided by the Russell Family Foundation, the Bullitt Foundation, WA Department of Ecology, and the WA Sea Grant.81 • Green infrastructure design competitions are a good way to raise awareness of green design and planning approaches in parks and train local landscape architects, planners, and engineers in green infrastructure principles and design. For example, in 2016, theCity of Kansas City, Missouri launched a design competition to solicit visions for a 7-mile long linear park in the Twin Creeks area of the Northland. Other examples of where design competitions are being or have been used to spur innovation includeBlair County, Pennsylvania; Houston, Texas; andWashington, DC. RESOURCES: • Georgetown Climate Center: Green Infrastructure Toolkit – Models for Starting Pilots • WEF: Hosting a Low Impact Development Design Competition Park Pride Rain garden demonstration project with interpretive signage at Lindsay Street Park in Atlanta Leslie Batten, UW Green Futures Research and Design Lab Coupeville Stormwater Park, designed to collect, clean, and recycle stormwater
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