The Pursuit of Sustainable Infrastructure
Groundwork Hudson Valley and Columbia University collaborate on ways stranded assets and underused infrastructure in the Hudson Valley can be revived.
What are sustainable ways to reuse stranded infrastructure in the Hudson Valley?
That is the question Columbia University’s students asked this past semester. At the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, in a joint architecture and urban planning studio led by Pedro Rivera and Ubaldo Escalante, twelve students investigated patterns in how a built environment of the Hudson Valley is used, with the goal of identifying existing problems and designing resilient interventions. Oded Holzinger from Groundwork Hudson Valley guided students and provided valuable feedback for the projects.
As students walked out of the Metro-North station and onto Yonkers’ downtown, they were met by Oded who led the visit to different project sites. Projects that served as an inspiration for the studio included the daylighting of the Saw Mill River and Groundwork’s Science Barge. They felt a sense of urgency to continue what the Groundwork organization pioneered in the region. Groundwork served a crucial role in the studio’s initiative by showcasing how stranded assets such as abandoned buildings and underused infrastructure in the Hudson Valley can be revived.
We live in a fast-changing world and built projects can rapidly lose their relevance. When this happens, stranded infrastructure gets abandoned and contributes to an unpleasant landscape, ultimately reducing the livability of the given neighborhood. The LEED guidebook also warns architects and developers that demolishing old infrastructure and replacing it with new construction is very harmful to the environment since it can take up to 80 years to compensate for the carbon footprint.
If replacing old infrastructure with new construction is harmful to the environment, then, what’s the solution?
Groundwork and Columbia University students united to identify stranded assets and propose solutions based on repurposing them for the greater good. Architecture and urban planning students teamed up and focused on projects in the areas of health, agriculture, energy, mobility, and ecology. The students researched and redesigned the built environment of the Hudson Valley through a collaborative process.
While researching the climate and history of the Hudson Valley, Polina Stepanova, Eliza Rose Dekker, and Gabrielle Coleman realized how extreme urban heat and pronounced social disparity put the health of elderly African Americans in particular jeopardy.
A social health network in Yonkers
African Americans had the highest hospitalization rate in various Hudson Valley counties due to heart attack, stroke, asthma, and assault, according to Mid-Hudson Region Community Health Assessment of 2019–2021. Westchester County, home to the city of Yonkers, also had the highest uninsured population. After this discovery, students proposed a social health network in Yonkers and found an abandoned bath house, located in the area with impervious surfaces and redlined by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC), marking it as unworthy of further investment. With the guidance of Groundwork and its Climate Safe Neighborhoods initiative, the health team proposed transforming the bath house into a holistic health and community center servicing the local community.
Looking to emerging consumption trends in agriculture
Wei Xiao and Ruonan Du, a pair of urban planning and architecture students, took a different approach to the issue of stranded assets in the Hudson Valley. They investigated changing market conditions and emerging consumption trends in agriculture. Through research, they discovered that dairy factories are either already stranded or are going to be stranded in the future, making them a suitable asset to repurpose. In lieu of dairy, consumers have begun opting for plant-based milks which are cruelty-free, cheaper to produce, and less harmful to the environment. Wei and Ruonan saw an opportunity in this steady market transition and proposed a transformation to an already abandoned Borden dairy factory in Wallkill village.
Resourcing renewable energy in the Hudson Valley
The next team Groundwork collaborated with focused on energy production in the Hudson Valley. Thiago Lee and Alan Cai contemplated the environmental trend of resourcing renewable energy and analyzed existing power plants in the Hudson Valley. Power plants are being stranded as the world is consciously shifting to cleaner sources of energy, such as solar and wind energy. Despite this, Thiago and Alan found that 77% of energy comes from fossil fuels in downstate New York. In order to curb this harmful practice, the team suggested repurposing a power plant in Albany as an energy center where environmental design would be a key priority.
Connecting communities through public transportation
Another pressing issue in the Hudson Valley is inequitable mobility and transportation. Zina Berrada and Sebastian Bielski analyzed demographics and transportation patterns in the Hudson Valley and found that the west shore of the Hudson River does not have adequate public transport, even though it has a larger population, compared to the rail served communities on the Hudson east shore. The project the team created focused on connecting the west shore and ensuring that its communities have access to public transit. This effort would contribute to enhancing equity in the region as well as minimizing CO2 emissions; traveling via public transportation produces less carbon dioxide than traveling in an individual vehicle. Zina and Sebastian proposed a restoration of an existing rail line as well as a design for a mobility hub in the city of Newburgh. The Science Barge served as an example of repurposing a water vehicle into an educational platform as well as an inspiration for the project.
Environmental impact of industrial quarrying
Among all the manmade structures in the region, there are also areas that are completely destroyed by past industry. Another team of architecture and urban planning students — Isaac Khouzam, Ruiqi Zhu, and Charlie Liu — directed their attention to sites damaged by industrial quarrying. The team explored existing quarries, both abandoned and operational, and studied their environmental impact. Three quarries that attracted the team’s particular interest were Haverstraw, Tomkins Cove, and Verplanck. These are all quite significant in size and are either already filled or being filled with water. Isaac, Charlie, and Ruiqi proposed opening a museum that would pay a tribute to the past of the quarries and included adaptive design which would adjust to the rising water level.
While theoretical now, these projects would benefit the Hudson Valley if realized. Columbia University’s studio team under the direction of Pedro, Ubaldo, and Groundwork learned a lot from this experience and will continue to implement research-based thinking in their future designs. As for the stranded assets, hopefully we can give them a new purpose in this ever-changing world.
Groundwork Hudson Valley is an environmental justice non-profit working with communities to improve climate resilience, promote sustainability education, and nurture the next generation of environmental leaders. Visit us at groundworkhv.org for more information.
