Green Infrastructure Design and Visualization

Lead Investigator: Professor Brian Orland
Team Members:Dr. Stuart Echols, Dr. Richard Ready, Dr. Barbara Gray, Mr. Matt Royer, Dr. Richard Ready
Research Assistants: Molly Oliver, Abhinandan Bera, Tara Mazuczyk, Devon Beekler, Mackenzie Battista, Lynn Abdouni, Madison Craig

Project Description

This project has had three components.

  • to produce image sets representing alternate development scenarios to support other project teams
  • to develop visual/verbal “dashboards” to communicate the implications of stormwater management
  • to investigate how evolving visually-oriented tools are being incorporated into decision-making processes.project-2-image

Our tendency is to focus on technical and financial outcomes whose implications may not be clear to all citizens and policy-makers. Visualization offers a way to clarify the implications of prioritizing biodiversity, alternate design approaches, stormwater retention/detention options and management choices such as extent of mowing. However, while each of these factors deserves independent consideration, they naturally occur in a myriad of combinations and with many non-visual confounding factors, such as cost. The visualization dashboard  approach presented here shows the effects of manipulating selected factors while others remain constant.

During the course of the project, tools supporting green infrastructure decision-making have proliferated bringing the challenge of choosing among a wide array of different capabilities, reliability and usability. We offer a framework based on fundamental principles of how people engage with and comprehend new information and a preliminary set of resources to support citizen-based decision-making.

VISUALIZATION TOOLS

  • Click here to browse project visualizations 
  • Click here for a visual dashboard exploring Green Infrastructure alternatives

PROJECT INFORMATION

  • Click here to download an overview presentation
  • Click here to download the project poster
  • Click here to download the project presentation
  • Click here for the project report page