The concrete pool is the creek, a prime example of integrated urban and natural resource. Could this be a repeatable practice for removing sediment and providing recreation? Or is it a management intensive imposition on the creek?

San Luis Obispo Creek, originally uploaded by CookiiHoney.

I need to find out details of this creek restoration and design, especially how all the urban hardscaping holds up during floods. Do they remove the steel fish sculpture during high flows? Do the bridges back up with debris? The channel does not look very wide, although it is deep. I think that the city unearthed a culvert to daylight this creek. This area near the historic Mission and plaza seems like the center of human activity.

NyTimes Article: Prague’s emergency floodwalls held up during Summer 2002 floods. From the article:

“I thank God and the wall,” said Rabbi Sidon as he looked up at his temporary sanctuary, the 19th-century Jerusalem Synagogue. The wall, which rescue workers named the Wall of Hope, is a fence of interlocking aluminum slats that was hurriedly put into place on the bank of the Vltava as floodwaters began to rise on Monday.

By today, the local tabloid Blesk had crowned its builder, a Moravian businessman named Ladislav Srubek, as “the man who saved Prague.” Foundations for the $2,000,000 wall, designed by a German firm after floods hit the city of Cologne a decade ago, were put in place several years ago. “It’s not a miracle, it’s just a smart piece of engineering,” Mr. Srubek said in a telephone interview. He said plans and permits had been in place to extend the wall to other parts of the city, but it had not been a
priority for the local government.

The substantial costs of flood walls can be justified by the value of commercial property thus protected from damage caused by flooding. Flood walls are almost solely used in cities, notably:

• Cologne, Germany
• Nijmegen, the Netherlands
• Deventer, the Netherlands
• Kampen, the Netherlands
• Huntington, West Virginia
• Portsmouth, Ohio
• St. Louis, Missouri
• Louisville, Kentucky
• Cincinnati, Ohio
• Morgan City, Louisiana
• New Orleans, Louisiana and
• Richmond, Virginia.
• Williamson, West Virginia
• South Williamson, Kentucky

Owning a home in walkable neighborhoods saves residents $300 to $400 a month, up to 4,800 a year, on gas expenses alone, according to research by the Congress for the New Urbanism.

A recent Forbes article focuses on access to mass transit as a major factor in America’s Most Fuel-Efficient Neighborhoods. You can rate the walkability of any neighborhood via walkscore.com, just enter an address. While public transit is tremendously important, walkability seems critical to reducing our carbon footprint.

Blogs to keep an eye on:
http://www.livablestreets.com/
http://neighborhoods.org/

San Antonio Riverwalk, originally uploaded by NutsyFagan.

In the 1920’s, the Architect Robert Hugman proposed, “The Shops of Aragon and Romula,” a beautification and flood-control plan for the city of San Antonio, and kept the proposal alive for seven years until its eventual adoption through 1938 when funding became available from the Works Progress Administration. According to local historian Vernon Zunker, Hugman designed 31 unique staircases for the River Walk and many other features. Hugman established his own architectural office at the River Walk, next to the restaurant Casa Rio established in 1946, despite popular opinion which held that he would be ‘drowned like rat’.

The riverwalk winds through downtown as a former bend in the river and lies one floor below street level. Shops and walkways are protected from flooding via a bypass channel and a 24 diamter flood control tunnel that runs under the city. More history available from:

• San Antonio Chamber of Commerce
• San Antonio Riverwalk Site
• San Antonio River Foundation
  

  
  
  
  
  
  atmospheric photo

  ]]> http://blog4jen.wordpress.com/2008/06/26/san-antonio-riverwalk/feed/ 0 jnatali San Antonio Riverwalk San Antonio Riverwalk San Antonio Riverwalk hotel