Resilience and such...

Tidball and Krasny Article

This paper confronts the issue of how we can use the ideas and innovations created by diverse city dwellers to address the risks cities face. "Communities lacking resilience are at high risk of shifting into a different, often undesirable state when disaster strikes. Restoring a community to its previous state can be complex, expensive, and sometimes even impossible. Thus, developing tools, strategies, and policies to build resilience before disaster strikes is essential". I wholeheartedly agree.

I also agree that diversity is the key element in resilience and to retaining functional and structural controls in the face of disturbance. Biological diversity provides functional redundancy, so that if one species declines other species providing the same ecosystem services will step up. I also think this helps with shifting the way people think from disaster relief to identifying what is missing in a crisis to identifying the strengths, skills, and resources that are already in place within communities to continue to function.


Community and Forestry Impacts and the World Trade Center Collapse

This is based on an ecological assessment performed 48 hours after the collapse of the World Trade Center. The writer sees it as an opportunity to learn from the effects of the destruction on September 11, 2001 and hopes it will allow us to better understand the role of the landscape in assisting affected communities to recover and heal.

The reading also dealt with NYC oasis which is an open accessible space information system for New York City. Essentially a database to access open spaces in NYC. I found this to be enlightening. The powerpoint also dealt with the impacts of 9/11 on the surrounding neighborhoods and vegetation. Interestingly enough, there was found to be no permanent damage to air quality.

I found this especially noteworthy:
Due to 9/11:
Heavy deposits (2-4 inches) of cement dust and large accumulations of paper in two block radius from epicenter.
•Samples of the cement dust deposits collected showed elevated levels of lime (calcium oxide--from gypsum board), lead, fiberglass, glass and asbestos (1-2%).
•Elevated pH levels in park and street pit soil samples.
.Particulate accumulations dissipated rapidly outside of the four block radius but significant deposits (1/4 inch-1/2 inch) were detected at 8 block and 12 block intervals (largely along easterly and northerly arteries leading out of impact zone).
•Several mature London Plane Trees uprooted on the perimeter block surrounding ground zero.
•Potentially higher levels of PCBs in ground cover.
•Stress to newly planted parkland and street trees.