Green Infrastructure for the Atlanta University Center | 2022
Environmental Community Action, Inc. (ECO-Action) helps vulnerable communities in Georgia prevent, confront, and resolve environmental health threats. ECO-Action has been using green infrastructure to address frequent flooding in collaboration with Clark Atlanta University, the Interdenominational Theological Center, Morris Brown College, Spelman College, and owners of adjacent private properties that drain onto the campuses, including the Atlanta Housing Authority site, the Friendship Baptist Church development, and the Villages II affordable housing redevelopment. They developed nine conceptual plans to capture 40 million gallons of stormwater runoff per year through the construction of 27 cisterns, three detention vaults, and 14 greenways for the Atlanta University Center (AUC) area. The plans also include planting 656 trees along streets and in greenways. Figure 1 maps the location of these projects in the AUC. These plans are available at https://eco-act.org/program/green-infrastructure-gi/.
Figure 1. Map of Proposed Green Infrastructure Solutions
ECO-Action partnered with Earth Economics to analyze the public economic benefits of the proposed Green Infrastructure Conceptual Plans. Analysis focuses on the stormwater management benefits of 1) greenways, 2) street trees, and 3) cisterns and vaults. ECO-Action and Earth Economics have published a fact sheet and accompanying technical report to describe and explain these benefits.
Photo Credits: ECO-Action
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