The Pima Water Urbanism Project provides community design solutions to these urban challenges through collaboration with three community populations: (1) City and County staffs (including hydrologists, planners, and transportation engineers), (2) neighborhood residents and workers adjacent to sites of chronic flooding, and (3) emerging architects.
Researchers
- Courtney Crosson, Associate Professor of Architecture
- ARC451a/510f Students of Architecture
Community Partners and Consultants
Project Details
Budget: $10,000 (each year), funded by Pima County Regional Flood Control District
Where: Tucson, Arizona
When: 2017 - 2019
Project Overview
The Pima Water Urbanism Project provides community design solutions to these urban challenges through collaboration with three community populations: (1) City and County staffs (including hydrologists, planners, and transportation engineers), (2) neighborhood residents and workers adjacent to sites of chronic flooding, and (3) emerging architects. Led through UA upper-level design studios from 2017-19, the project has to date produced fourteen discrete community designs to alleviate specific sites of flooding throughout the city while expanding Tucson’s overall infrastructure resilience. In aggregate, the fourteen sites currently form a decentralized network designed to mitigate 5.49 million gallons of flooding per year, offset 4.58 million gallons of potable water use per year, and provide local co-benefits such as reduced heat island and expanded recreation opportunities. These solutions were collaboratively developed through local Ward meetings of affected communities and presentations to governmental decision-makers including Pima County’s Deputy Administrator, Flood Control’s Deputy Director, Tucson Water’s Conservation Manager, and Tucson Department of Transportation’s Director. Each of these projects engaged with the direct communities that used the sites to identify community needs – whether adjacent autobody shop workers who desired a place to eat their lunch or the neighborhood association who advocated for a dog park. The work has been broadly disseminated through open-access electronic and printed material outlets, presentations and engagement activities at local Ward meetings, and the creation of a card game called ‘Monsoon.’
Project Outcomes: Each year, six designs were completed for sites around Tucson to transform a vacant urban space into an opportunity to mitigate flooding, expand social equity, and increase community assets.
Project Gallery
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