Serious about recharge

 Drought-challenged areas can get serious about the water supply. Consider this story from Texas where the community acquired land that was the aquifer recharge zone as a way of protecting their water supply.

Good neighbor policy?

In New Jersey, Home Rule gives the municipality substantial autonomy over its own planning and zoning decisions. As such, even a development on a shared border with a neighboring town is left largely to the one community. Hence, Edison just approved a new warehouse on its border with Metuchen despite objections from "Metuchen's land use attorney and planner." 

Pinelands CMP

Southern New Jersey has an unique landscape called the Pinelands. The UN-recognized landscape benefits from a variety of strategies and protections including the New Jersey Pinelands Commission's Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP). First adopted in 1980, the plan is an important tool for guiding growth while protecting these unique resources, including the very large Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer. If the CMP is too much for you, this StoryMap offers an easy point of entry.

Why are Wetlands Important?

The National Parks Service on Why are Wetlands Important?

People and perception

Planning and designing for people is tricky because community perception doesn't always match reality. A striking example of this is the Mean World Syndrome in which people express grave concerns over crime and public safety at times during which these concerns are not well founded. What else might a community perception that can sometimes be shown to be misaligned with the facts?

Large wetlands

 Where are the great wetlands of the world? 

Why so many sinkholes in Morris County?

 Interstate 80 is closed again because of a sinkhole. Why does this keep happening? Mine shafts.

Hudson Square public plaza

Matthews Nielsen Landscape Architects (MNLA) has released a design proposal for Hudson Square. The design includes interactive seating and a cool and shady area they list as a tree and umbrella bosque. If you ever visit the Film Forum, this is just a couple blocks over. See a movie, chill out in the park.

Don't walk, pedal?

Are we designing or planning communities to support the trendy activities? There is an increased interest in biking to school in groups, called bike buses. It help young students develop physically while building relationships and gaining some personal autonomy - all good things. But what are we doing to make our communities fit this trend? Are we creating safer routes? Are we making connections that reward the young cyclists? Does the route make them feel like they are welcome and encouraged to travel this way?

Topo maps

In class we are talking about ways to access the free USGS topographic quads for NJ online.

Think how much the use of these has changed aver the years even though the maps themselves have changed so little. For those that are new to the maps, I am sharing some different scenes from around New Jersey that may be of interest. Just click on each and they'll expand.










A special thanks goes out to Mike Siegel and the Rutgers Cartography Lab.  This is a great resource for students and for pros.  A national resource is the Libre Map Project, but it is a bit harder for first time users.

Losing value

Today's Wall Street Journal reports that climate change is going to hammer home values and dramatically increase the cost of home insurance. Explaining the data from a report by First Street, the WSJ explains that we should anticipate a $1.75 trillion reduction in value by 2055.  And they even tell us where to watch:

First Street projects the hardest-hit places will have rising home-insurance costs and population declines. The counties with the biggest projected population loss over the next 30 years are Fresno County, Calif.; Ocean County, N.J.; and Monmouth County, N.J. 

Sould you trust their data? The article mentions that First Street is providing climate change data to Zillow which accompanies each house on the website. Here is a house that is 10/10 high risk in three categories.

Groundhog Day poem

The movie Groundhog Day includes the very end of Phil Connors reading the Kilmer poem Trees:

Trees

By Joyce Kilmer

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

Happy Groundhog Day!