Project 012: Project Urban Rain Garden
For Project 012 we asked you for your ideas on improving local schools. Daniel sent us this chronicle from Victoria, British Columbia. Working on a city stormwater management project in Seattle, Daniel realized that adding natural features to a public space made it more inviting to children. That insight..
For Project 012 we asked you for your ideas on improving local schools. Daniel sent us this chronicle from Victoria, British Columbia. Working on a city stormwater management project in Seattle, Daniel realized that adding natural features to a public space made it more inviting to children. That insight led to a community-wide effort to transform a barren local courtyard into a dynamic play space and classroom. Daniel gives us the play-play below.Project Urban Rain GardenTwo years ago, I was in Seattle looking at a recent stormwater management project for work purposes. The project was Seattle Street Edge Alternatives (also know as SEA streets). The objective of the SEA street project was to redesign streets to be smaller, traffic calming and incorporate more natural features such as planted bioswales to manage stormwater rather than using more traditional pipe systems. The result was a 99% improvement of stormwater retention. Unexpectedly, however, to my colleagues and myself, there was a social benefit. As my colleagues and I were standing on the corner photographing the area, an elderly resident asked us what exactly we were doing. We explained and a discussion ensued. During that conversation with the elderly resident, the gentleman was notably not interested in the expected increase in property values due to the conversion of the street, or the downstream benefits to the receiving stream, but rather he was shocked at one unexpected benefit; children began to play in the street again. What came out of this discussion sparked an idea that I would propose six months later; an idea that came to fruition and remains exceptionally successful.
Six months later, I proposed the idea to a leadership group and two years later, the project is a raging success wining an award for environmental education. The project, named Project Urban Rain Garden, was the reclamation of a 300-square-meter concrete courtyard. The courtyard was transformed into a stormwater management tool, an outdoor classroom, a children's play area, and a community-gathering place. The project was successful because the entire school (including teachers and the principal), members of the school board, members of the community, the PAC the school labor union, the civil engineer, landscape architect, members of the leadership team and the project manager all participated in the design from the get-go; it was truly an integrated team. The project was successful, because the children drove it; the children believed in it and as a result, the adults believed in it.To help the children understand the greater purpose of the rain garden, members of the team went to the school and spoke to the children about sustainability, watershed pollution and how a rain garden works. This discussion included an interactive watershed model where students had the chance to see and to recreate the cycle of pollutants (such as motor oil, pesticides and fertilizers) being picked up by storm water and running into the surrounding waterways. To integrate the students attending the school into the design process and begin the formation of ownership and pride, the grade 4/5 students then conducted a survey of the school population about what they would like to see in a rain garden. The students tabulated these results and presented them to the design team. These results informed the design. Emphasis was placed on working with grade 4 and 5 classes, to encourage them to become "stewards" of the garden, leading them to develop a sense of ownership and pride for their school and their garden. Intermediate students were engaged as "buddies" to the elementary students. As the student stewards advance through the school, they have taught the younger learners the concept and purpose of the garden, passing on the stewarding role to the next generation of students. Ownership, pride and enthusiasm in this garden are continuously sustained and nurtured, ensuring that the pride and care of the area is internal and not dependant on a single parent.