NEWS

The FIFTH NATIONAL CLIMATE ASSESSMENT was just released (November 14, 2023): READ THE ASSESSMENT HERE>

eDD’s Franco Montalto is one of the authors of the NCA5’s chapter on climate impacts and action plans in the Northeast: READ THE NORTHEAST SECTION>

You can catch VIDEO of the Fifth National Climate Assessment Rollout at the White House on YouTube. WATCH THE W.H. ROLLOUT>

Finally, there’s an interactive ATLAS which taps into the power of maps and stories to share information from NCA5 and let Americans know how climate change is affecting their areas. USE THE ATLAS>

EDD’s Eric Rothstein joined the landscape architecture firm @theolinstudio and the client Corporación del Proyecto ENLACE del Caño Martín Peña in receiving the GLOBAL IMPACT AWARD at this year’s annual ASLA award ceremony for the team’s work in Master Planning Caño Martín Peña in San Juan. The project will increase access to safe drinking water, flood protection, economic opportunities, safe housing, and open spaces. What an honor!

eDesign Dynamics’ Managing Partner, Eric Rothstein, presented on urban salt marsh restoration in a presentation entitled “Living Shorelines in Coastal Cities: Where and How to Build Them” at the American Society of Landscape Architects‘ national conference in Minneapolis at the end of October 2023. Eric was joined by SCAPE‘s Pippa Brashear and Indigo River’s Domenica Stasiak.

eDD’s Managing Partner and Engineer Eric Rothstein recently participated in a panel discussion on Carbon & Biodiversity for OlinLabs’ 2023 Climate Week. It was great to be a part of an important week of learning to inspire action. 

Here’s a clip from the panel with Eric introducing eDD, what we do, and what we’re concerned with when it comes to biodiversity:

Learn more about Olin’s 2023 Climate Week here>

eDD’s Founder Franco Montalto was quoted in a recent New York Times article on the city’s ongoing flooding issues:

“It’s a really challenging problem to solve because we have this legacy infrastructure system and its capacity is being exceeded,” said Franco Montalto, a flooding expert and engineer. “You can either manage excess water underground or you manage it on the surface.”

Dr. Montalto cited an initiative in Copenhagen, where officials redesigned streets to hold water temporarily. Certain intersections, he explained, are depressed or sunken, to draw water away from neighborhoods and allow it to pool at a depth that is safe for cars to pass through. Eventually, the water runs off into parks and other green spaces.

Read the full NYTimes article here>

eDD’s founder and Drexel University professor Franco Montalto was recently published in the journal “Nature.” In his article, he discusses how he and his students work to address unmet real-world community needs. Here’s an exerpt:

Having students tackle real-world problems has transformed my experience as a professor of civil and environmental engineering. My students have learnt theory while helping governmental and non-governmental partners in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania to improve their green infrastructure, parks and tree cover; design strategies and obtain funding for flood mitigation; and understand how to manage urban heat — all while publishing in academic journals and working in and with communities.

Read the full article in “Nature” here>

We were excited to see the attention Gansevoort Peninsula received in the New York Times recently: “How Hudson River Park Helped Revitalize Manhattan’s West Side.” Under the leadership of Field Operations, eDD designed natural areas in the new park. You can see the largest restored salt marsh on Manhattan’s westside in the foreground of the picture of Little Island!

With colleagues, eDD President Dr. Franco Montalto, P.E., recently published a book that can help stormwater engineers to evaluate the impact of various Low Impact Development (LID) technologies, including Green Infrastructure. The book, entitled Computational Methods in Low Impact Development Stormwater Control Measures, can be previewed and purchased here. LID has become the preferred strategy for controlling stormwater. The book describes all the different LID controls in common use today, and the mathematical equations that are used to describe their hydrologic and hydraulic functionality. The second half of the book describes how LID controls are simulated in different computer modeling software packages. The book ends with strategies for advancing the state of the art.

Preview and purchase the book here>

Read the book’s press release here>