http://www.asla.org/2009studentawards/001.html Honor Award ANALYSIS & PLANNING CATEGORY Remediation Infrastructure: A Comprehensive Development Strategy for the Remediation of the Gowanus Canal Heather Fuhrman, Associate ASLA City College of New York, New York faculty advisors: Achva Benzinberg-Stein, FASLA; Denise Hoffman-Brandt and Hanque Macari Project Statement The usage of Gowanus Canal, located just off New York City's East River Estuary, has declined over time due to development of alternate shipping methods. Today the Canal suffers from environmental contamination, economic obstacles, and social indecision. This project looks to develop a remediation infrastructure using economic, environmental, and social determinants to generate a variety of multi-scale apparatus as remediation tactics implementing a system of networks to generate a comprehensive development strategy for the Canal. Project Narrative This graduate thesis project involves an approach which allows for the deployment of a range of multi-scale tactics that act as networks to create an infrastructure for the remediation of the Gowanus Canal. This 1.5 mile canal is situated in the heart of the once thriving industrial core in of Brooklyn. Adjacent to the Canal are several industrial based businesses as well as an assortment of industrial relics and abandoned sites. The Gowanus is emblematic of the decline of industrial waterfront landscapes in this post- industrial climate in relation to its environmental, economic, and social challenges. This area suffers from environmental pollution, economic obstacles, and social indecision, which has physically scarred the environment and divided the community. Environmental contamination, the result of the heavy commercial and industrial use of this once thriving industrial core, has created a condition where chemicals and waste materials have leeched into the environment, causing a potentially harmful situation to the both the surrounding residential and ecologic environments. Economic challenges associated with previously proposed redevelopment campaigns have also plagued the site due to the overwhelming cost associated with brownfield clean up. The topic of redevelopment also creates controversy among a variety of community based groups lacking a single overriding political mechanism creating social indecision. As recent as May 2008, the New York City Department of City Planning proposed a redevelopment strategy for this area. This draft re-zoning proposal included a strategy for mixed-use zoning, public waterfront access, affordable housing, and clean-up as a condition for redevelopment. However, a variety of community based groups involved in the process, including the Gowanus Development Corporation, The Gowanus Dredgers, and Community Board 6, have all expressed concern with the proposal, lending to the social indecision with the redevelopment and clean up of the site. Residents in the area remain concerned the proposed plan does not directly address the issue of clean-up or the associated cost. Additionally, the current plan does not address the pollution in the canal itself including the on-going pollution due to the combined sewage overflow system (CSO) in conjunction with the currently defunct "Flushing Tunnel". This continues to be a point of contention among the various groups associated with the canal. Compounding the issue is the proposal to designate the entire Canal as a "Superfund" site, which could jeopardize current development proposals. However, the clean up of individual sites creates a situation in which "spot clean-up" occurs. Meaning if 'Site A' is cleaned while 'Site B' an adjacent site is not, there is the potential for leeching to continue as the chemicals move through the soil and along the water table. Studies of the sites including historic business use of the canal begins to reveal the potential chemicals and materials which may still be present on site. The chemical make-up of these materials falls into one of these categories: Light Non-Aqueous Liquids, Dense Non-Aqueous Liquids (DNAPL), or Heavy Metals. While these pollutants have methods of remediation they need to be associated with a comprehensive strategy allowing for a successful remediation. This comprehensive strategy must address the environmental, economic, and social components. This project looks to accomplish this by developing a remediation infrastructure. Project Goals & Objectives The project's goal is to create a remediation infrastructure for the Gowanus Canal. This will be accomplished by taking an analytical "bottom-up" approach to design. Using environmental, social, and economic criteria as a basis for analysis the objective is to develop a tool that will provide a comprehensive understanding of the site, organize and align community interest groups, and assist in the development of solutions for the remediation and future redevelopment of this site. Environmental & Social Data Collected & Analyzed Environmental mapping on both the local scale and case-study scale includes: hydrology, topography, tidal flood areas, flood plains,