Precedent Study
To address these issues relating to stormwater management, 4 types of strategies were identified across four different precedent sites studied. This include Resist, Delay, Store, and Discharge strategies
Resist: Hard infrastructure (such as bulkheads, floodwalls and seawalls) and soft landscaping features (such as berms and/or levees which could be used as parks) that will act as barriers along the coast during exceptionally high tides and/or storm surge events.
Delay: Urban green infrastructure designed to focus on slowing stormwater runoff throughout the region using a combination of public and private amenities to update the stormwater and sewage system to withstand new levels of water capacity.
Store: Green and grey infrastructure improvements, such as bio-retention basins, swales, and green roofs, intended to slow down and capture stormwater.
Discharge: Enhancements to existing stormwater management system to reduce combined sewage overflow and manage flooding.
These strategies do no work in isolation—they work symbiotically as part of a larger system. Eliminating critical urban resilience components to meet construction timelines lessens the promising vision of each design and significantly reduces the project's impact. Our design proposal seeks to adapt these strategies to create novel solutions for the specific conditions of Rockcliffe-Smythe.
Resist, Delay, Store, Discharge Urban Water Strategy
OMA | Hoboken | (2013)
Large parts of Hoboken were once marshland on a filled-in island, resulting in two thirds of the city experiencing the current issues of flash floods and storm surges, even from minor storms. Hurricane Sandy flooded a huge portion of the city, resulting in pressures to create an urban water strategy to combat these issues. The project consists of four phases: Resist, Delay, Store, and Discharge. Resist fortifies the Hudson River edge. Delay implements green roofs and rain gardens to slow stormwater runoff. Store implements constructed wetlands to control marshland conditions. Discharge will create enhancements to the existing stormwater management system to reduce combined sewage overflow and manage flooding.
Living With The Bay
Interior | Nassau County, Long Island | (2012)
After World War II, Nassau County experienced a population wave that saw to rapid suburban development of its coastal landscape. It was not until 2012, that Hurricane Sandy brought to light the severity of Nassau’s failing urban infrastructure. Living with the Bay, developed for the Rebuild by Design initiative, identified three major regional threats, including storm surges, sea level rise and stormwater overflow. The design addressed key areas of concern along the Mill River, focused on 4 guiding principles: flood defense, ecological restoration, access and urban quality, and social resilience, all of which are addressed through a scale of local initiatives and regional planning frameworks.
The New Meadowlands
MIT + LCAU, RBD | New Jersey | (2013)
The Meadowlands is located at the intersection of flood landscapes and critical urban infrastructure, serving as a commute and distribution hub for New York City. Lack of flood management planning devastated the area after Hurricane Sandy in 2013. The New Meadowlands Master Plan consists of two main components: a flood protection berm that oscillates in size and program depending on the surrounding environment (The Meadowlands Park), and areas of mixed-use development prioritizing a main street (The Meadowband).
Cloudburst Strategic Flood Masterplan
Ramboll Studio Dreiseitl | Copenhagen | (2012)
The Cloudburst Strategic Flood Masterplan was created in response to the 2011 Cloudburst event that left the city under 150mm of water in less than two hours. The goals of this masterplan are to reduce the negative impacts of flash flood events by increasing the city’s collection and conveyance capacity to improve Copenhagen’s stormwatermanagement infrastructure. Water is carefully collected upstream by a series of retrofitted public spaces, then slowly filtered downstream through various vegetation strategies mixed with minimal elevation changes. A primary objective of this masterplan is the creation of surface channels in public spaces, framing stormwater management as social infrastructure, benefiting the community as a whole and creating collective community buy-in.
Have they been effective?
While some projects are trying to address issues with climate resilience and water quality, the reality is that there are issues with implementation, both in SCALE and TIMING.
The common thread across these four precedents is that they were all a reaction to severe climatic events that are increasing in frequency and intensity as we move deeper into our global ecological crises. These typologies do no work in isolation—they work symbiotically as part of a larger system. Eliminating critical urban resilience components to meet construction timelines appears to lessen the promising vision of their design. These incremental approaches to implementation and development must be situated within the regional urban hydrologic system in order to be considered effective long-term.
Where does Toronto fit into all of this?
Current methods that the City of Toronto is using for stormwater management include the Wet Weather Flow Management Masterplan, which targets both flooding from cloudbursts and backed up sewers.
