Contribution of green infrastructure to the implementation of green economy in the context of sustainable development

Abstract

AbstractThe green term, as the concurrence of opinion between infrastructure and economy, has the ability to integrate natural resources and environmental services into the national income and wealth account. However, the mutual effects of green infrastructure (GI) and green economy (GE) are not always clear. This study aims to develop the influences of GI criteria into the implementation of GE in the context of sustainable development (SD) through using novel hybrid methods: the decision‐making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method was used to examine the efficiency and interrelationship among GI criteria; the analytical network process (ANP) was used to prioritize GI criteria based on their influences on three GE indicators; and the remaining two stages applied the hybridization and integration methods, with MATLAB software, to finalize the results. Results from the hybridization method showed that the weights of the GI criteria differed based on three GE indicators. Affordability is a prime GI criteria at 61% based on the socio‐economic indicator. However, this prime weight was at 43% based on the eco‐environment indicator, and at 32% based on resource efficiency plus 31% based on socio‐environment indicator. The final results were finalized with integration method, which demonstrated the contribution GI criteria made to GE implementation. The highest weight percentages appertained to affordability (61%) and resource efficiency (21%), while the minority weight of 18% went to the rest of the GI criteria. Primarily, the affordability and resource efficiency categories were found to empower green infrastructure for the implementation of green economy in the SD context.