Regenerative Suburbanism: LIRR Long Island Radically Reconsidered

Abstract

This paper presents the author's design research on suburban sustainability, developed in collaboration with Ana Serra, Katelyn Mulry and Sven Peters. Our entry "LIRR Long Island Radically Rezoned” was selected as one of 7 winners of the 2010 ‘Build a Better Burb' ideas competition and won first prize in the D3 Natural Systems international design competition 2010. Current paradigms of sustainability such as efficiency and conservation are merely slowing down but not preventing the process of resource depletion and environmental degradation. A more ambitious approach is required: Regenerative design integrates processes that are conducive to renewing sources of energy and materials, creating closed loop systems that fulfill the needs of society while preserving the integrity of nature. Regenerative design is the biomimicry of ecosystems aiming to create optimized, holistic frameworks for systems that are absolutely waste-free. We have studied Long Island, NY for its potential to become a regenerative region. Long Island's most unique and defining condition is that of containment and the island itself – a spatial entity unable to expand beyond its own footprint. By conceptually capitalizing on this ‘insular' condition we developed our Living Island proposal, applying closed loop principles on a macro scale: water, energy and waste neutral and 100% local food production. By drawing on the metabolism of the island to provide a regenerative natural environment and to create synergies between the various resource streams the current administrative structure is eliminated in favor of a ‘proximity-tomass- transit' based subdivision. The variations in existing density and frequency of train stations create an organic and supremely functional land use pattern – the Smart Cells. Capitalizing on the densification potential of the downtowns, the perimeter of each Smart Cell will be renaturalized overtime as residents move into the newly developed downtowns, ultimately creating a continuous restorative fabric for recreation, agriculture, and ecological corridors.