Julia Windsor

Date of Award

2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

Second Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Brain, David

Area of Concentration

Environmental Science

Abstract

Traditional means for urban storm water management have fallen short in keeping up with the demands of urbanization. Flooding from impermeable surfaces, aquifer depletion from lack of recharge via percolation and over extraction are problematic facets of urban life. Water quality for potable use is threatened by utilization trends as well as from contamination due to mismanagement of storm water and runoff. Green infrastructure has risen in popularity as a potential route for development to take to mitigate these urban ills as an alternative to traditional “grey” infrastructure. Utilizing geographic information systems (GIS), I standardized and reclassified ten layers of feature data on the census tract of Sarasota, FL to reflect suitability for green infrastructure projects targeted toward aquifer recharge and flooding mitigation. The output displayed western –favored trend of suitability. Overlaid with the future land use plan of Sarasota, I found that the highest ranked locations for green infrastructure most often fell in zones marked to be rural or moderate residential density in the future. In terms of current or future planning, this analysis provides input for thoughtful incorporation of green infrastructure into the urban fabric as facilitated through preemptive identification in suitability and future land use.

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