Green Infrastructure

11th grade Y-PLAN students at Skyline High School explored opportunities for green infrastructure to address climate impacts and equity issues in Oakland, particularly urban tree canopy cover. Students began with a site visit at Oakland Unified School District’s Central Kitchen, Instructional Farm, and Education Center where they were able to see how urban agriculture, forestry, and dedicated green spaces provide opportunities for systems-scale food access. They then conducted site visits at Damon Slough and Arrowhead Marsh, where they completed a SWOT analysis and noted the impact of urban streams and runoff and the potential for green infrastructure in the area. Following these visits, students proposed green infrastructure projects focused on stormwater, public park and greenspace access, community gardens and enhancing tree canopies.

• Instructor: Terri Van Hare

• Civic Clients: Shayna Hirshfield-Gold, City of Oakland Climate Program Coordinator

• Student Scholars: 11th Grade Sustainability Class in the Green Energy Pathway

• Higher Education Partner: UC Berkeley’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; UC Berkeley's Center for Cities + Schools

How can Green Infrastructure address climate impacts and equity issues in Oakland?

• How do flooding and urban heat islands affect different neighborhoods?
• What is the current tree canopy across Oakland and how can it be expanded?
• What role can youth play in creating and maintaining vegetative buffers and urban agriculture?

As California grapples with the effects of climate change, including prolonged droughts and sea level rise, young people must play an active role in creating and shaping green infrastructure in their communities. 

"We want to add this plan because we would like to create a safe ambiance for everyone to come together and share with each other.” - Y-PLAN Student Scholar

Students participated in a multi-site, multi-scalar exploration of green infrastructure in the Damon Slough and Hegenberger areas of West and Central Oakland. Rather than site-specific locations, larger areas were investigated to help students to make broader connections with food systems, transportation, tree canopy, watershed and utilities, as well as cultural and neighborhood relationships.

The Central Kitchen and Farm field trip provided students with an opportunity to see how urban agriculture, forestry, and dedicated green spaces provide opportunities for systems-scale food access that is managed by OUSD for local youth and families. As a demonstration site, the Central Kitchen and Farm offers educational opportunities to students in Oakland about the importance of food systems and the impacts on climate, health, and economics.

The Site Visit to Sausal Creek, Damon Slough, and Lower Hegenberger offered students exploration in concepts of sea level rise and urban water systems.

This spring, CEE partnered with UC Berkeley’s Center for Cities + School (CC+S) and Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) to support two Y-PLAN projects, including one focused on green infrastructure. CEE students and faculty facilitated engaging learning opportunities for OUSD classes, greatly adding to their understanding of critical engineering issues.

During the site visit, students performed SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threats) Analyses and considered things such as tree canopy, permeable vs. impermeable surfaces, community resources, transportation, walkability, access to water and recreation, and residential and commercial distributions of land. By working within project groups to consider the project question, students were moved to begin thinking about their projects proposal ideas.

UC Berkeley’s Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering (CEE) is committed to addressing the persistent lack of racial and gender diversity within the engineering field, particularly in higher education. To strengthen its Community-Engaged Education in Civil & Environmental Engineering (CEE²) program, the department recently launched its Engineering for Change (E4C) initiative, which uses hands-on projects and demonstrations to promote awareness of civil and environmental engineering amongst local K-12 students from underrepresented communities.

Two CEE PhD students, Yanghua Duan and Daniel Ocasio, facilitated a hands-on design challenge at Skyline High School in which OUSD students used gravel, sand, and charcoal to create water filtration systems. To simulate real-world scenarios, each group was assigned a ‘client’ with unique needs – some required slower, more thorough filtration while others asked for faster, less-efficient filtration.

“The people of Oakland will love that their community is getting loved.” - Y-PLAN Student Scholar

Student groups developed topics of interest within a green infrastructure project definition. A wide variety of ideas emerged, showing the potential for creativity and big picture thinking within a climate justice lens.

• One quarter (25%) of the students proposed Green Stormwater Infrastructure projects, which included flood mitigation, urban hydrology, and enhanced urban morphology for responses to storms, drought, and heat.

• A second quarter (25%) of the students proposed Public Park and Greenspace access projects, which offer neighborhood revitalization, access to spaces to play, social cohesion, and stormwater management.

• A third quarter (25%)  of the students proposed Community Gardens. Food access and efficient use of space was at the forefront of many students' minds, particularly in light of the economic impacts of COVID on Oakland community members.

• 10% of student groups were interested in enhancing tree canopy projects.

Proposal: Our vision is to undergo a full restoration of the Lower Hegenberger district of Oakland through the use of a dedicated street management and upkeep program, employing green methods and sustainable strategies to mitigate air and noise pollution, increase stormwater drainage flow, and improve the quality of life.

Benefits:

• Project improves stormwater drainage flow
  • Reduced flooding during excess rain
• Project creates greater aesthetic value and improves quality of life
• Project allows for mitigation of air and noise pollution
• Project allows for mitigation of the urban heat island effect
• Project creates improved waste management
• Project provides an equitable solution for a lower-income area

Barriers:

• Project may require work on private property
  • May need to acquire permission from property owners
• Project may take time to implement and take effect
• Project could benefit from further specification of critical steps
• Project may disrupt traffic and/or foot traffic while it takes place

Implementation:

1. Identify neglected greenery, as well as potential locations for bioswales and green barriers, and unfinished drainage pattern
2. Consult local groups and create a dedicated “groundskeeper” program
3. Add any additional greenery and implement green barriers to mitigate potential pollution source
4. Implement groundskeeper program to maintain street management

Proposal: Kihapai horticultural is growing fresh local fruits and vegetables using regenerative practices in the fertile volcanic soil in Hawaii. Our vision will turn an old building (Walmart) into a community garden/safe place for the community. We want to use the large space to create a garden to give out free produce and we will use solar panels for electricity. It benefits the community by giving the community jobs as well as volunteer work, it will also have a safe space for kids, homeless people, and more. This plan will help most of the material consumption and waste plans because we will use locally grown food and encourage the reduce, reuse and recycle system. The plan will help with the carbon removal plan because plants will be grown which help reduce pollutants in the air.

Benefits:

• Helps the community/homeless people
• It's great for the environment
• Perfect to grow in any season
• Makes a safe community space
• More jobs in the vertical gardens for the community (might be payed)
• New produce like fruits/veggies will create a healthier community
• It will make oakland nicer to look at
• Free community center to get free food
• Can provide volunteer opportunities for teenagers to get volunteer hours

Barriers:

• Since the garden is inside, there is a possibility of flooding
• It will be expensive to build it
• Lots of electricity is needed
• Getting people to come and volunteer
• Finding the required material
• Permission to get and buying the property

Implementation:

For our vision to become real, these are the critical steps that we have identified:

1. Find the people who own the old walmart and ask if we can use it, get the permit to start building
2. Find the costs of everything that will be needed
3. Sketch out where everything inside and outside the building will be put
4. Build it 
5. Keep it alive; maintenance

Proposal: Our vision will improve air quality along the freeway and decrease sound for surrounding communities. It benefits the community by improving the value of houses around the area and decreasing the asthma rates in the community. 

Benefits:

• Blocks sound/noise
• Takes carbon out of the air (improves air quality); carbon sequestration
• Blocks particles
• Defends coast from rising sea levels; soft coastal armoring 
• Street beautification
• Lower asthma levels in community

Barriers:

• Keeping vegetation watered; maintenance 
• Trees can fall on highway and cause car accidents
• Need funding and labor to plant the trees
• Increase fire risk
• May displace people that live near the freeway, which is a more poor neighborhood

Implementation:

1. Get permits to plant trees along freeway
2. Plant the trees
3. Set up a desalination plant to treat salt water, and turn it into water that we can use to water the trees.
4. Desalination plant will go towards the top of the freeway, as there is a natural slope which we can use to allow water to flow down the freeway without using more energy to pump water.
5. Hire a company that specializes in desalination and have them maintain the plants and make sure the vegetation gets watered.

Students brainstormed future programmatic partners, ranging from hyper-local to major international groups and including government agencies, non-profit organizations, neighborhood groups, and consulting firms. 

The next step is to build partnerships with these groups and the City Oakland to ensure that these recommendations inform future climate policy-making. 

Also, students will consider how next year’s Y-PLAN work can allow for students to pair with organizations to form communities of practice in green infrastructure work in Oakland.

Check out KneeDeep's Article on Skyline's Green Infrastructure:

To learn more about other Y-PLAN projects:

For more information on Y-PLAN:

For more information on the Center for Cities + Schools: