Sponge Park - Gowanus Canal

Before there were sponge cities, there were sponge parks. Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal is the site of the Sponge Park master plan and pilot projects, instigating a widespread movement toward greater urban permeability. Designed by Susannah Drake and her former Brooklyn-based firm DLANDstudio Architecture + Landscape Architecture, their execution was completed in 2016 and recognized with National AIA and ASLA Urban Design Awards as well as the inaugural Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian National Design Award for Climate Action in 2020.

This book introduces the Sponge Park in great detail with photos, illustrations, plans, and diagrams. It demonstrates the concept’s potential as a component of a larger vision for a new paradigm of coastal urbanism, upland adaptation, and right-of-way design in the 21st century. Sponge parks proactively address how to manage stormwater runoff from increasingly severe storm events, and reduce detrimental impacts. This work is a must-read for design students, architects, and academics as well as for elected officials, policy-makers, and community activists.