This study analyzes the quantifiable impacts of low impact development features, sometimes referred to as green infrastructure, across three alternative proposals for the development of a city district along the edge of a lake and a creek. The study applies Carl Steinitz’s Framework for GeoDesign to the three alternative proposals and the existing conditions as a means of comparison in order to understand an informed decision based approach to design. I worked in collaboration with Dean Almy’s Urban Design Studio, the Texas Urban Futures Lab. The spatial configurations tested come from the work of the studio throughout the course of the semester. My analysis influenced negotiations of those configurations over the course of the semester.

South Shore Central Alternative 3 aligns itself very closely to the SDAT recommendations.The percentage of impermeable cover has gone down to 60%, The amount of surface parking square footage has dropped by approximately 85% to about 274,000 sq. ft. Much of that previously impervious cover has been devoted to sponge park area. This alternative also sees the inclusion of a new typology of low impact development feature, permeable pavement combined with underground cisterns. The amount of rain gardens have increased to almost 200,000 sq. ft. along the sidewalks. Part of this increase in rain gardens has come from the addition of private gardens along parts of buildings where the ground floor is residential.