Williamsburg Bridge Dreams

Tuesdays my dog and I usually walk in and out of the city via the Williamsburg bridge. Today the bridge is covered in snow, so instead here's a picture. Technically it's a NYC Greenway, but as you can see it's more like a Grayway.

I want to get Michael Bloomberg (or Reverend Billy if he winds up being the mayor) to help me (us, really) get the whole thing planted as a vertical garden. Here are some examples from France and Japan:

Simply covering the bridge in sedum and moss would make it a delightful thing to walk over in the summertime, do a lot to mitigate urban heat island effect, look beautiful from far away, and turn our ugliest of the five bridges into a huge statement of NYC's seriousness about sustainability. It's practically shovel-ready!

Here's more information about architectural vertical gardening.

Comments

[Susan]

This is a lovely idea, and I agree with your first points, but I'm a little bit dubious as to what it says about sustainability. (Please don't take offence – this sort of comment always comes across far 'harder' than it would in conversation. I'm sorry my first comment on your blog seems negative.)

I've seen a couple of Patrick Blanc's smaller indoor walls, and to be frank, was disappointed by their visual impact up close. The felt substrate was very visible, and I suspect these walls are not easy to maintain in lush tropical growth. I also wonder about their water usage, the weight and problems that could be caused for the building or structure behind the plant wall. The interface between the two must be difficult to monitor.

The wife of the gardener responsible for the walls I saw said that you can only do it where there is a reliable power source, as if the electricity is cut, the pump stops and the felt dries out quite quickly. The plants don't recover.

But I am not an expert in these matters, so maybe all this has been thought of and solved.

[deborahfisher]

Susan, first of all welcome!

Second of all, it's really, really OK to be constructively negative here. Please keep asking reality-based questions, because the goal is not to just dream but to make shit happen.

You bring up good points, and frankly I have no easy answers. This is something I daydream about when I am walking across the bridge, not something I have spent any time engineering.

Power seems like an easy problem to solve. Structural issues are less easy.

I'll get real about it and get back to you. Maybe someone else who knows more about green walls will respond too?

[deborahfisher]

Re: "sustainability"--this is a big, relevant argument that I am more than happy to participate in, but I want to clarify what you mean.

When you say dubious in relationship to sustainability, do you mean that it will use so much water or power that it won't actually be sustainable? Or are you poking at another meaning?

Again, good questions, don't be afraid to offend here!

[Leif Weaver]

I am an architect who does green residential design. I would like to put in my two cents worth on the sustainability of this idea. There are very few plant that can live in that environment un-aided. (low access to nutrients, uneven access to moisture, and high pollution, and in New York, a relatively cool winter (ruling out many tropical plants). It is easy to tell that it is a poor environment for plants by the simple fact that it (the bridge) has no plants growing on it naturally.

Now, it is certainly possible to grow plants on it, but each of these negative elements, that need to be overcome, requires humans to continually add resources. Fertilize and water are two examples, but also, the structure has to be protected, the plant cannot obscure inspections of the structure, when plants die, new plants will have to be added, etc. Any time that maintenance requires resources, you have to question whether it is sustainable in the long run. My guess here is no. It is likely to be more efficient to make empty lots into forest gardens than it would be to try to grow plants on that bridge.

[deborahfisher]

Leif, thanks for writing!

Damn, that sucks. I'm going to keep doing research anyway, things have a way of evolving, even if it's not the way you initially thought they would.

If anyone else wants to keep pushing the ball around, feel free. I'll add information as I get it. Don't expect the idea to stay the same.

Leif, Susan, KEEP READING! Your input is vital!

[Susan]

Leif has confirmed my suspicions about the practical sustainability of such a project and resources required to maintain it.

Bummer, eh?

Thanks for the nice welcome :-)

[deborahfisher]

We'll see, Susan... sometimes impossible seeming things are just improbable. Or lead to something even better.

With that in mind, I'm still researching options. I have very little knowledge about this topic, but I know that one doesn't have to water or otherwise maintain a sedum-only green roof, to take one example.

Making the Williamsburg Bridge into a real greenway may or may not happen. But the idea is a really good reason to learn more about architectural gardening in general.

[Bill Santelli]

Hi Deborah,
Don't give up on the bridge idea. Making it happen would be a fantastic transformation of the whole experience of that bridge.

Regarding the survival of plantings, and upkeep... There are some plants, unfortunately seen by most people only as "weeds" that are "beautiful" and will grow - heck, thrive, in almost any environment they can take root, including NY state's climate.

There's someone here in Upstate NY you should get in touch with - Laurie Broccolo - owner of the Broccolo Group. They're an environmentally aware company, offering a range of services (including environmental planning). Visit their web site: http://www.broccolgroup.com You'll see some of the projects they've done (green roofs, swales, etc.).

On another note, your new blog is off to a good start - I like it. As a reader of your previous blogs, I was sorry to see them end. That being said, I "get it."

Bill-

[Bill Santelli]

Sorry, but I misspelled the link in my post. It should be: http://www.broccologroup.com
Bill-

[Bill Santelli]

Sorry, but I misspelled the link in my last post. It should be: http://www.broccologroup.com

[deborahfisher]

Hey Bill, thanks for coming over and understanding the art imperative to make the impractical possible!

We'll see. While this isn't an art site, I do want to dream in reality and I hope that artists keep up the strong participation! I'll talk to Laurie B.

Just so you know, though, that talk about killing my eponymous blog is probably just hyperbole. Posting will be light for awhile, but I can't really truly imagine killing it. If I were you, I'd set it up on an RSS feed and let new posts find you.

[Susan]

Dusty Gedge is probably the most well known exponent of the green roof in the UK, so you may like to look at his website http://www.livingroofs.org/

I have had my antennae twitching to pick up on the subject for a couple of years now, as I quite fancy making one over what will essentially be our carport / front porch in France. My office will overlook. We would have to get permission from Bâtiment de France to do it though, as we are in a heritage conservation area. It's a mid- or long-term project for us I think.

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