TY - JOUR
T1 - Urban vacant lands impart hydrological benefits across city landscapes
AU - Kelleher, Christa
AU - Golden, Heather E.
AU - Burkholder, Sean
AU - Shuster, William
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to acknowledge several contributors to the Urban Vacant Land Assessment Protocol. Foremost, protocol development and application to sites across Buffalo would not have been possible without the Buffalo Sewer Authority as well as numerous undergraduate and graduate students who spent summers working to apply the Urban Vacant Land Assessment Protocol to sites across Buffalo. This work was supported by the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Technical Assistance Programme [contract number EP-C-11-009]. This work was also supported by the National Science Foundation Cooperative Agreemtn 1444755, the Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network. This paper has been reviewed in accordance with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s peer and administrative review policies and approved for publication. The authors would like to thank Chris Knightes (USEPA) for helpful comments on an earlier draft of the paper. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use. Statements in this publication reflect the authors’ professional views and opinions and should not be construed to represent any determination or policy of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s).
PY - 2020/12/1
Y1 - 2020/12/1
N2 - Cities evolve through phases of construction, demolition, vacancy, and redevelopment, each impacting water movement at the land surface by altering soil hydrologic properties, land cover, and topography. Currently unknown is whether the variable physical and vegetative characteristics associated with vacant parcels and introduced by demolition may absorb rainfall and thereby diminish stormwater runoff. To investigate this, we evaluate how vacant lots modulate citywide hydrologic partitioning by synthesizing a novel field dataset across 500+ parcels in Buffalo, New York, USA. Vacant lot infiltration rates vary widely (0.001 to 5.39 cm h−1), though parcels are generally well-vegetated and gently sloped. Extending field estimates to 2400 vacant parcels, we estimate that vacant lands citywide may cumulatively infiltrate 51–54% additional annual rainfall volume as compared to pre-demolition state, in part by reducing and disconnecting impervious areas. Our findings differentiate vacant lots as purposeful landscapes that can alleviate large water fluxes into aging wastewater infrastructure.
AB - Cities evolve through phases of construction, demolition, vacancy, and redevelopment, each impacting water movement at the land surface by altering soil hydrologic properties, land cover, and topography. Currently unknown is whether the variable physical and vegetative characteristics associated with vacant parcels and introduced by demolition may absorb rainfall and thereby diminish stormwater runoff. To investigate this, we evaluate how vacant lots modulate citywide hydrologic partitioning by synthesizing a novel field dataset across 500+ parcels in Buffalo, New York, USA. Vacant lot infiltration rates vary widely (0.001 to 5.39 cm h−1), though parcels are generally well-vegetated and gently sloped. Extending field estimates to 2400 vacant parcels, we estimate that vacant lands citywide may cumulatively infiltrate 51–54% additional annual rainfall volume as compared to pre-demolition state, in part by reducing and disconnecting impervious areas. Our findings differentiate vacant lots as purposeful landscapes that can alleviate large water fluxes into aging wastewater infrastructure.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41467-020-15376-9
DO - 10.1038/s41467-020-15376-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 32218437
AN - SCOPUS:85082561689
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 11
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
IS - 1
M1 - 1563
ER -