For more than a hundred years, cities around the world have buried their streams and small rivers, routing the water into pipes and paving over the top. But now, environmental research and the desire to revitalize our urban spaces have led to the reemergence of many of these urban waterways. The process is called “daylighting.”
Uncovering these hidden streams has resulted in big changes in many cities including Seattle, Washington, Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Seoul, South Korea. The results are improved water quality, new habitats for birds and fish, and the emergence of new public parks.
A major daylighting project underway in Yonkers, NY is exposing a long-covered river and is likely to include a new minor league ballpark and new housing. City planners are realizing that these urban waterways provide attractive public spaces, boost the economic value of surrounding land, and expose city dwellers to a bit of nature. New daylighting projects have been proposed for San Francisco, Baltimore, Detroit and elsewhere.
Urban streams were covered because they were getting in the way of development and people were using them to get rid of their garbage. Burying these waterways was considered to be great progress. In many cities, more than 70 percent of streams have been paved over.
Now, it’s clear that there are many advantages to bringing these natural features back into the urban environment. From urban revitalization to flood mitigation to the resurgence of native species, daylighting is garnering the attention of city planners everywhere.
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Daylighting Takes Off as Cities Expose Long-Buried Rivers
Photo courtesy of The Saw Mill River Coalition (http://www.sawmillrivercoalition.org/)
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