The Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh (URA) retained GAI as part of the park design team to improve the park, in accordance with both the URA’s Vision Plan and a Choice Neighborhood Grant that supports development of new, mixed-income housing.

The Liberty Green Park is an innovative stormwater management design incorporated into a 3-acre community park in the Larimer neighborhood of the City of Pittsburgh, which is striving to become a state-of-the-art “green” city. Sustainability and green design are guiding principles throughout the planning process, and stormwater best management practices (BMPs) are being incorporated into the design. The BMPs incorporated in the park design are part of a network of interconnected green infrastructure systems helping to control stormwater flows into stressed city roadways. The green stormwater infrastructure designed as part of Liberty Green Park includes a system of terraced bio-swales that captures stormwater from the park itself—as well as from surrounding residential developments and adjacent streets—and sends it to an underground tank system that incorporates a cistern, which is then pumped out to irrigate vegetation in the terraced bio-swales during dry periods. The constant water flow will serve to better flush salts from the system and support vegetation in the swales. The terraced bio-swales will serve as a main element of the park with public access and educational opportunities for the community.