Mitacs<\/a>, a not-for-profit organization that fosters growth and innovation in Canada by solving business challenges with research solutions from academic institutions, is assisting with financing Sivarajah\u2019s research on the project.<\/p>\nSivarajah is working with the ESRC and Darby McGrath, Senior Research Scientist and Program Leader for Vineland Research and Innovation Centre\u2019s Greening the Landscape program. McGrath and her team will help develop standards and specifications to guide the incorporation of natural elements into the housing development.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are things we don\u2019t typically think about: the space that we need for soils to support mature trees and other vegetation, and, in this case, the proximity to Lake Ontario,\u201d says McGrath. \u201cWe want to think about the effects that this development could have on Lake Ontario and its ecosystem and managing effectively aspects like storm water.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to climate change mitigation, trees, green spaces, waterfronts and other such \u2018green-blue\u2019 infrastructure in a community is also a boost for human health.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about making sure people are able to live healthy lifestyles,\u201d says Sivarajah. \u201cPeople could experience the comfort of having trees and other green vegetation around their developmental areas, enabling them to feel safe, increase their sense of wellbeing and promote physical fitness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sivarajah aims to merge ESRC\u2019s research on environmental sustainability and the role humans play in stewardship with the scientific expertise on the mechanisms that create urban and semi-urban areas that have relatively low impacts on the natural environment.<\/p>\n
Low impact development is one of the project\u2019s core concepts. The goal is to minimize disruptions to an area\u2019s hydrology, such as the draining away or \u2018runoff\u2019 of water that normally would keep soils moist, recharge underground water reserves and support vegetation that keeps temperatures cooler.<\/p>\n
Some examples of \u2018green\u2019 infrastructure to safeguard water quantity and quality include pavement that allows water to drip through special ditches called \u2018bioswales\u2019 that direct water to plants and grasses, and roofs that are covered with vegetation.<\/p>\n
Another core concept is \u2018resilience,\u2019 which recognizes the close, complex and ever-changing interconnections between human-built societies and natural ecosystems in the environment. The focus is on being able to adapt to change.<\/p>\n
McGrath calls the project a rare opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a scenario we don\u2019t often have presented to us where we can actually work with the Town from the ground up on a development,” she says.<\/p>\n
Sivarajah is hoping that the low impact development of the Prudhommes site will act as a model for other jurisdictions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Town of Lincoln is a forward-thinking municipality; they\u2019re willing to work with us to develop different specifications,\u201d she says. \u201cWe are hoping from this internship and post-doctoral fellowship that the Town of Lincoln will be a flagship municipality for others hoping to do the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sivarajah\u2019s Mitacs-supported internship runs for three years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At its peak, the Prudhomme\u2019s Landing complex was a magical place featuring waterslides, rides and a hotel. With the passage of time, the complex, was abandoned and eventually razed to the ground. But new life will be breathed into the site thanks to a partnership involving Brock University, Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, and the Town of Lincoln.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":67235,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,1,4,5],"tags":[794,9291,8411,522,9295,9294,9293,7842,9292,3325,5119,9092,4928,1066],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67224"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67224"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67227,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67224\/revisions\/67227"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}