1 februari 2012 REVIEW3 at KULeuven

I started this thesis with a specific interest in flooding. This is a major problem in New York City since it has mainly hard surfaces near the water that cannot absorb any water. When we look at the impact of hurricanes in East New York for a category 1, 2, 3 and 4 storm, we see that a large area in East New York is prone to flooding. And all these people must be evacuated which can be happening more often since climate change will cause more and bigger storms. Only Fountain Avenue landfill, 160feet high, is spared. This will be my site for the design.

A landfill is a very intriguing place and they appear all over the world. It is a great void in the landscape with a misplaced road and an evenly grassed surface. You can really feel this present absence. Slide 8 gives a view from the Wildlife Refuge in Jamaica Bay. It shows the landfill and the high rise buildings of Manhattan. Brooklyn is very flat and not visible in this image. The next panorama shows Pennsylvania Avenue landfill, the Starrett City apartment towers and Fountain Avenue landfill. Lots of projects try to transform landfills in beautiful parks, Fresh Kills Park for example. But we have to remember that beneath this artificial hill there are millions of tons of garbage.

How did New York City manage its waste? Until the late 19th century garbage was dumped in the streets. It consisted of dead animals, garbage and ashes. In 1895, the department of Street Cleaning fell into the hands of Colonel George Waring. He introduced new techniques and he made the sanitation workers wear crisp white uniforms. They were known as the White Wings and a personification of cleanliness and hygiene. In the end of the 19th century, New York City had its first incinerator and they started burning the garbage. But this resulted in poor health and landfills were made to dump the garbage. Slide 14 shows all the former landfills in Brooklyn, which are a lot! For example Fountain Avenue landfill at Jamaica Bay and Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island which is now transformed into a large-scale park by the design office Field Operations. It was closed in 2001 and was the biggest landfill in the world. Now there are no more landfills in New York City adding to the vision of ‘a greater, greener New York’. But this doesn’t mean that New York City produces less garbage. Everyday 38000 tons of waste are produced which are transported via an extensive network of truckroutes. The garbage is transported to other States, such as Pennsylvania and Virginia. There is need for a more ecological approach which is best integrated in peoples education.

Update:
http://urbanomnibus.net/2011/11/city-of-systems-waste-removal/ 

UrbanOmnibus recently posted the fourth and final video in a series "City of Systems".

This one is about waste removal. In this video, Elizabeth Royte offers a glimpse of the

complex process of  historical and presentday garbage collection in New York City, from

the 18th century until now. This video gives a more detailed and graphical overview of 

New York City's waste management.

Now, what to do with the closed landfills? Usually, former landfills are transformed into a golf course or a park. But parks are easily too beautifying, we mustn’t forget what lies underneath. I believe you can do more with it since land is scarce. We need to recycle land. A first Quick Start Proposal was based on the idea that underneath the hill there is a lot of useful material. Which you can pull out of the ground. For example landfillgas can be collected and used as an energy source to heat houses. The question was: “What comes out of the box?”

Back to the flooding map, I was looking for an interesting program. I started mapping the functions in the evacuated zone and I discovered that there is a high concentration of schools in this region. High schools, elementary schools and charterschools, all in the 19th schooldistrict. Slide 22 shows the American schoolsystem which is quite different than our schoolsystem. Ages are linked to grades and there are different trajectories possible from elementary school, sometimes via middle school, to high school. When we overlay the schooldistricts map with the poverty map, we see that there is poverty in the 19th schooldistrict in East New York. At some places 50% or more lives below poverty line. The 19th schooldistrict also has a very young population. About 40% is under 21 years old.

So for my design I propose a school of horticulture for about 1000 students consisting of both an elementary school and a technical high school. Elementary school will focus on regular courses, such as English language arts, maths, science, social studies and physical education. The technical high school will focus on more specialized courses, such as horticulture, biotechnology, agriculture, sanitary installations and central heating, animal care, arts and culinary courses. Giving the students a high school diploma in the end. The infrastructure needed for this school of horticulture consists of classrooms, computerrooms, playgrounds, library, student restaurant with kitchen, assembly room, laboratories, workshoprooms, garden with greenhouses and compost infrastructure, landfillgas to energy installation, teachers office, sports hall with showers, nursery, head teacher’s office, student learning assistance (CLB). The goal is to make the students more aware of the environment at a young age and to improve local access to healthy food and to build and share knowledge. Promoting seasonal fruits and vegetables will reduce transporttraffic, greenhouse gases and time. Also, the vegetables will be more fresh and it supports local farmers. This more healthy lifestyle is very important for Brooklyn. In East New York, 30% of the people has obesity which overlaps almost exactly with the existing fooddesert in Brooklyn. Low income neighborhoods appear to have the highest need for fresh food supermarkets. So it is important that students learn how to grow vegetables themselves and how to get a more healthy lifestyle.

Slide 28 shows the existing topography of Fountain Avenue landfill, the Beltparkway and the proposed location for the school of horticulture. Placing the project to the side, away from the center of the landfillsite, will improve its relation to the water. Because in the end we will have to learn how to live with floodings. People can come to the school by boat. In case of big hurricanes, the landfill, being the highest point in East New York, can serve as a refugecamp with the school as a community source.  Children will bring their parents and grandparents to their school where they can wait for evacuation.

Slides 30 to 35 show a few images to illustrate what this place could be like.
_The school wants to improve the relationship between the students and the water. After schoolhours, this place can serve as a recreation area for the larger community. The soft waterabsorbing landscape will help to cope with floodings.
_Students will learn how to grow fruits and vegetables and how to use greenhouses.
_Also animal care and farming will be part of the education.
_The school itself will be part of the landscape, using the wide space and providing a community source for refugees in case of flooding.
_Busses to bring the children to the school and back home.

The last slide shows a table of contents of my thesis.