Daniel Phillip's Dissertation Defense
The management of stormwater and wastewater is a critical challenge for urban sustainability and one that holds immense potential for deeper engagement in the field of Landscape Architecture. In this dissertation, Provisional Green Infrastructure (PGI) is posited for the first time as a speculative innovation typology for sustainable urban water management emerging from the Indian megacity, with important implications for other contexts. PGI is defined as “Informal nature-based retrofits to existing grey infrastructure networks by non-state actors for the purpose of improving water quality within highly unpredictable, space-constrained, and contaminated urban environments.” Daniel’s transdisciplinary mixed methods research included case studies, surveys and interviews with practitioners and potential adopters, field-based pilot studies of water quality performance, and catchment-scale SWMM modeling to address questions related to the diffusion and upscaling of PGI.