This website uses cookies as well as similar tools and technologies to understand visitors' experiences. By continuing to use this website, you consent to Columbia University's usage of cookies and similar technologies, in accordance with the Columbia University Website Cookie Notice
Decades of failed policies and speculation have enabled Sprawl to
spread pollution across the Hudson Valley. The GND presents itself
as an opportunity to create programs that empower stakeholders,
and redirect resources towards the reversal of this trend.
Sprawl has been one of the major contributors to the increase in
carbon emissions, due to its dependence on private vehicles, and
by replacing natural carbon sequestering landscapes with artificial
lawns; our strategy addresses both effects simultaneously.
The infrastructure is already there, all we need is to do is update
and equip it to actually serve its purpose: connect. Taking
advantage of these connections, we bolster existing activity nodes,
and promote the creation of new ones.
Newly protected grounds derived from enforcing existing guidelines,
create room for green corridors that puncture the boundaries of isolated communities, integrating them to a new forest linking
landscape, with open public spaces.
The project doesn’t reach its maximum potential when all the paths
are built, but when the lifestyle of suburban dwellers becomes
armonius with their surroundings.