Strategic Depaving, a project of Northern Kentucky University’s Ecological Stewardship Institute, is a community-engaged research project focused on removing impervious surfaces in Newport, KY and replacing them with public greenspace. Strategic Depaving was developed in response to community feedback that identified water quality and access to greenspace as major environmental concerns of the neighborhood. In the northern Kentucky/Cincinnati area, impervious surfaces intensify stormwater runoff which strains aging infrastructure and contributes to the release of sewage into local drinking water resources. Green infrastructure interventions can reduce stormwater runoff and improve water quality outcomes, but how projects are implemented, specifically the level of community engagement, may determine the resilience, sustainability, and reception of such projects. Strategic Depaving aims to promote urban water resilience by engaging the public in environmental decision-making, specifically the design of green infrastructure. Community engagement in the design of green infrastructure has been facilitated through a series of community design charrettes, public meetings in which participants give feedback on the placement of new public greenspace as well as how they anticipate using the space and what amenities they would like to see in the space. The iterative design process is supported by a transdisciplinary community-university partnership.
Results/Conclusions
The co-presenters, representing both sides of the community-university partnership (Westside Citizens Coalition and Northern Kentucky University) will use the first site of Strategic Depaving, the Bernadette Watkins Park, as a case study to share theoretical and practical concerns of building inclusive, transdisciplinary partnerships. In addressing challenges and opportunities, the presenters will discuss unique funding partnerships, the need for equitable funding models, formalizing research expectations, fostering transdisciplinary partnerships, and the core challenge of inclusion in community-university partnerships. This symposium is built on the premise that public engagement can improve environmental decision-making. Public engagement, however, can happen in many ways. Through continued engagement in the project - from the development of research questions to the implementation of green infrastructure that is designed by the community through sustained care and investment - Strategic Depaving aims to promote agency and stewardship over newly created green infrastructure as well as unveil complex linkages between science and society that determine the resilience of environmental projects. While neighborhood-level greening projects are often promoted as solutions to both social and environmental concerns, if they are not designed and implemented in partnership with the community, they may fail to deliver long-term positive change.