Ecohydrological monitoring of urban ecological infrastructure at the Arizona State University Tempe Campus (Tempe, Arizona)

Urban Ecological Infrastructure (UEI) are urban ecological structures
whose ecological functions are increasingly being used to deliver key
urban services and address urban sustainability challenges. The
growing use of UEI to address urban sustainability challenges can
bring together teams of urban researchers and practitioners to
co-produce UEI design, monitoring and maintenance. However, this
co-production process received little attention in the literature, and
has not been studied in the Phoenix Metro Area. This study examined several components of a co-produced design process
and related project outcomes associated with a small-scale UEI project
– bioretention basins installed at the Arizona State University (ASU)
Orange Mall and Student Pavilion in Tempe, AZ. We explored the design
process associated with the collaborative development of an
ecohydrological monitoring protocol for assessment of
post-construction performance of this UEI system. This co-production
process involved both CAP LTER researchers and practitioners,
designers, and managers at ASU and associated third-party consultants
involved in site design and management. Together, these researchers
and practitioners co-produced a suite of ecohydrological metrics to
monitor the performance of the bioretention basins at Orange Mall.
Specifically, this protocol evaluated the performance of the UEI
system with regards to two of it’s key design goals: storm water
capture and storm water quality improvement. The ecohydrological data
produced by the implementation of this monitoring protocol are
presented here. Monitoring equipment were installed throughout the
site in June and July 2018. Site monitoring and data collection began
in August 2018, and continued through Feb 2019.