Ecological Infrastructure: examining spatial strategies for integrated urban water systems

Supervisors: Jorge Fiori, Douglas Spencer, Michael Weinstock, Eduardo Rico

The main objective of this PhD project is to demonstrate that integrated urban water systems would significantly benefit urban ecology; integration would improve infrastructure performance, respond to changing resource dynamics at multiple scales, and limit the energy intensity through implementing large-scale processes of phytoremediation. The research repositions existing ecological systems, such as wetlands and forests as integral components of the water cycle, and establishes how infrastructure can be redesigned as a fluid integration of both built and natural systems. The project uses the case of London to examine the interdependencies between water and energy systems, focusing specifically on the Lea River Valley.

Serena Lehua Jarvis is an urbanist with a particular interest in the future of resource security. She graduated with distinction from the Bartlett, Faculty of the Built Environment with the MSc in Building & Urban Design in Development (2011) where she received a special commendation on her dissertation. She earned a BA in International Relations from Bucknell University, during which she studied in Switzerland at the University of Geneva.