Civic Hydrology: flood resilience & public space in Iowa communities

Mayors’ Design Workshop: Civic Hydrology

Led by Austin Dunn, Landscape Architecture, and Sara McMillan, Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering

Following on the work of the Iowa Mayors’ Design workshop, this interdisciplinary studio offers opportunity to work with mayors, city councils and community members from two different Iowa communities. Students will focus on water-centric design at the urban level, responding to local and compelling, real-life problems that relate to community facilities, amenities, and waterways. Design students in conjunction with engineering students will be able plan and design solutions for the two hydrological projects as they relate to the urban setting. Co-instructed with Sara McMillan, Professor of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering.

Landscape Architect Kathy Poole argues that the rivers, streams, and oft-unseen structures of our stormwater landscape have the potential to form a “civic hydrology.” A civic hydrology calls for a “creative synthesis of engineering and aesthetics into expressions that transcend mere amenities and contribute to the structuring and understanding of places.”

In this studio, we will investigate stormwater and flooding as form-givers. We will examine often marginalized landscapes related to drainage, flood control, and water quality. And we will explore these features as valuable civic spaces through which we understand, celebrate, and organize our communities.

This course utilizes a novel format. Our interdisciplinary design studio will work in tandem with Ecosystem Restoration Engineering, a course in the College of Engineering led by Professor Sara McMillan. Students from design and engineering will share the studio and work side-by-side in interdisciplinary teams to address complex issues at multiple scales, leveraging tools, knowledge, and experience from each other.

We will be working directly with two Iowa communities, the City of Atlantic and the City of Cedar Falls. In Atlantic, our work will address an urban stream corridor by integrating solutions for flood resilience with placemaking and community connectivity. In Cedar Falls, we will examine an underutilized floodplain park as part of larger systems of hydrology, recreation, trails, and economic development. We’ll work closely with city leaders and ISU Extension Specialists to create actionable guidance for these communities.

We will be making multiple site visits to Atlantic and Cedar Falls for fieldwork, stakeholder engagement, and presentation proposals. This course will integrate technology such as UAV (drones) photogrammetry, GIS, 3D-modeling, and 3D-printing.

Course objectives:

• Learn and apply principles of ecological engineering and nature-based solutions to landscape design in human-impacted ecosystems
• Reconcile ecological goals with other social, cultural, and economic uses of the urban landscape
• Work effectively in interdisciplinary teams to create project proposals that align with stakeholder needs