Gisolfi, Peter. “Reclaiming Spoiled Landscapes.” Planning 77.2 (2011): 23 – 25. Print.
The author, a registered landscape architect and chairman of the Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New York, uses examples of US land reclamation projects already in the works to create a foundation for analyzing a possible reclamation of the Gowanus Canal. He proposes adjusting the way we approach these environmental projects to focus on smaller portions of restoration instead of trying to implement huge scale projects – for the Gowanus Canal he suggests things like capping areas of toxic land instead of trying to completely replace the soil. He cites The Emerald Necklace, a vast network of parks in Boston, as an example of land reclamation still in progress – the project was started in the late 1800’s and continues to be adapted and maintained to this day. He also provides ways to categorize projects of different scales. This article could be useful in providing practical case study examples of solutions to environmental problems.
How might a piecemeal approach be applied to the Canal?