Abandoned lots, steep slopes, and caliper inches: Ecosystem restoration in the context of campus planning and design for University of Pittsburgh

Background/Question/Methods

Major institutional land owners like universities must meet their growth and development goals while complying with applicable environmental requirements. Cities use their zoning authority to shape how such land owners meet these requirements. Often variances to typical zoning requirements are sought by the land owner and met by “requests” by the city for assistance in advancing broader goals, such as ones related to sustainability, resilience, and social equity.University of Pittsburgh’s main campus is situated on steep hillsides in a dense, urban setting abutting both affluent and marginalized neighborhoods. Due to a large number of trees removed during a development project, the University would have been required (by local regulation) to replace them by planting every square foot of outdoor space on campus with two-inch diameter landscaping trees. This approach would not be compatible with creating a unifying campus design that the University sought. The University further desired a more ecologically holistic, resilient, sustainable landscape.Through the Institutional Master Plan and construction permitting processes, the University worked with the City of Pittsburgh to balance the University’s need for growth and the City’s environmental and social equity urban planning goals related to urban forest canopy and public realm green space.

Results/Conclusions

Working with landscape architects and the University’s legal advisors, I developed a science-based alternative compliance framework that met the University’s tree replacement requirements and broader design goals. I created a tree replacement formula that applies reforestation science to develop a diverse, multi-layered forest on currently open areas, and ecosystem restoration science to rescue degraded woodland from ecological meltdown by removing overtopping lianas, invasive species management, and infill planting. Both approaches integrate with the University’s new Landscape Master Plan to create the enriched campus experience the University desired. The framework is being applied to new public realm green spaces on previously abandoned, blighted lots to improve equitable access to nature and the rest of campus. Application of the framework expands, connects, and restores previously neglected wooded areas at the campus edge and connects them through the middle of campus for the benefit of people and nature. Through this project, we learned:1. Nature-based design can synergistically address multiple environmental and social equity goals.2. A science-based ecological plan can be an effective response to disparate and conflicting policies.3. When seeking an exception to established procedures, show regulators how flexibility creates more benefits than would be achieved by strict adherence.