At the April 20th event, DiviningLAB cofounder Hadley Arnold shared D-LAB’s high-precision stormwater modeling tool, called Hazel, in a planning/zoning use case. She made the case for hydrologic zoning overlays—ie, precisely identifying the city’s best bets for investment in green infrastructures to help guide climate-smart development. The talk prompted lively discussion. A women-powered panel explored how the city’s stormwater management, groundwater recharge, and de-watering objectives could be tied with precision to community development, environmental justice, carbon reduction, open space, habitat, and urban cooling objectives. The event spurred multiple ongoing conversations between public agencies, academic partners, and technical experts.
Ric Abramson, Urban Designer for the City of West Hollywood, and his team organized the event, one in a series of generative, solutions-oriented public symposia for a progressive, agile city seeking actionable recommendations for climate-adapted growth. If such a public forum is of interest in your town or city, let us know. We’d love to be part of it.
