Universal daylighting, prohibiting parking within 20 feet of crosswalks, enhances safety and increases visibility at intersections. This strategy creates usable curb space for rain gardens, crucial for flood mitigation, especially as severe rain storms worsen due to climate change. New York City has a large portion of impermeable surfaces, with streets covering 32,000 acres. By repurposing even a fraction of this space, the city can significantly reduce stormwater runoff. City innovations like those in Philadelphia demonstrate the potential benefits of greening urban landscapes to improve water management and environment.
New York City must embrace universal daylighting to create a direct pathway to repurpose curb space as rain gardens at scale.
More than 70 percent of New York City is impermeable surfaces, preventing rainfall from being absorbed into the ground.
Repurposing just a small portion of these 32,000 acres holds enormous potential for flood mitigation.
In 2016, Philadelphia greened a mere 837 acres of city land over five years, reducing stormwater and combined sewer overflow by more than 1.5 billion gallons of water annually.
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