This week, we’re highlighting Asphalt to Miniforest, a panel on how depaving and miniforests can help cities restore their hydrology, cool neighborhoods, and bring life back to paved places. Caseylee Bastien, RLA, CPSI (Landscape Architect/Ecologist, BSC Group Inc.), Leigh Meunier (Project Manager, Green & Open Somerville), and Max Rome, PhD (Director of Green Infrastructure, City of Boston) joined Alexandra Ionescu, Bio4Climate’s Associate Director of Regenerative Projects, for a conversation on what it takes to restore the water cycle in urban settings.
Max offered a clear framing:
“What we know in New England, is that basically, if we could capture the first inch of rain that runs off impervious surfaces and get that back into the ground, we would be very closely approximating and recreating the natural hydrology in this area, the way the rivers responded to storms before we built our cities, the nutrient loading into rivers before we built our cities.”
The discussion also explored political, cultural, and community realities—from simplified landscapes to joyful depaving parties—and offered a hopeful reminder that cities can transform when people learn and act together. It also invited us to step outside during a storm: to stand under a tree, watch how it slows the rainfall, and notice how nature works with water.
Asphalt to Miniforest left us with two questions to reflect on:
We hope these questions deepen your own thinking as well.
Posted: December 13, 2025