We just got the good news that an abstract we submitted for a session at GreenBuild has been accepted!

The session’s topic is “A Forest Runs Through It: International Overview of Innovative Case Studies That Show The Range and Magnitude of Benefits Possible With Urban Trees.” Nathalie Hallyn, one of our sustainable landscape architects, put together the abstract.

The case study overview will show a range of innovative projects that have overcome the limitations facing traditional urban trees, enabling them to provide significant ecological and social benefits — including, for example, stormwater management benefits, reduced building energy costs due to tree shading, carbon sequestration, human health and safety benefits, and increased property values. We will feature the following projects:

– The Marq2 transit-way sustainable streetscape rennovation project in downtown Minneapolis that incorporated urban trees and extended the trees’ rooting volumes under paved sidewalks. This will allow not only the growth of large trees, but also treat stormwater runoff from 90% of rain events from a 5.5 acre catchment area, significantly contributing to solving the City’s combined sewer overflow problems and halving stormwater utility fees.

– The large-scale waterfront redevelopment in Toronto that extends tree rooting volume under paved surfaces to grow 1,400 large urban trees to enhance water quality in the City’s valuable waterfront and reduce its urban heat island effect.

– An ultra-urban retrofit project at New York City’s Lincoln Center, where innovative techniques were used to enable growth of large trees for Lincoln Center’s outdoor concerts on top of a parking garage while still ensuring that the planting area could support the weight of temporary concert seating.
 
– A multifunctional project in London that extends uncompacted rooting volume under paved surfaces to grow large vines on a 1km long, 9m high green wall to achieve multiple goals, including stormwater management, heat island effect reduction, wildlife habitat, and protections from graffiti, where trains will arrive from Heathrow Airport during the 2012 Olympics.

– A LEED-ND certified uptown streetscape re-development project in Normal, IL, that used innovative techniques to extend tree rooting volumes under paved downtown sidewalks and parking areas to grow large urban trees to create shade, minimize heat island effect, and hold stormwater while still satidying the urban streetscape’s loading requirements.

This session is scheduled for November 19th, 2010 at 2pm and will be presented in conjuction with Jim Urban, FASLA, and Peter Schaudt, of Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects. We hope to see you there!

And if you’re interested, you can read full case studies for the Marq2, Lincoln Center and Normal, IL Silva Cell installations on our website.