Facilitating Multifunctional Green Infrastructure Planning in Washington, DC through a Tableau Interface

John R Taylor,Mamatha Hanumappa,Lara Miller,Matthew L Richardson,Brendan Shane

doi:10.3390/su13158390

Abstract

Multifunctional urban green infrastructure (UGI) can regulate stormwater, mitigate heat islands, conserve biodiversity and biocultural diversity, and produce food, among other functions. Equitable governance of UGI requires new tools for sharing pertinent information. Our goal was to develop a public-access geographic information system (GIS) that can be used for comprehensive UGI planning in Washington, DC (the District) and to create an e-tool for UGI in the form of Tableau dashboards. The dashboards allow stakeholders to identify (1) existing UGI and (2) potential areas for new UGI including urban agriculture (UA). They also allow users to manipulate the data and identify priority locations for equitable UGI development by applying population vulnerability indices and other filters. We demonstrate use of the dashboards through scenarios focusing on UA in the District, which currently has 150 ha of existing UGI in the form of documented projects and an additional 2734 ha potentially suitable for UGI development. A total of 2575 ha is potentially suitable for UA, with 56% of that area in Wards 5, 7, and 8, which are largely food deserts and whose residents are primarily Black and experience the greatest inequities. Our work can serve as a model for similar digital tools in other locales using Tableau and other platforms.

Highlights

We initially identified existing urban green infrastructure (UGI) sites in geospatial data layers maintained by Open
We discuss the results of analyses of existing and potential UGI in the District, provide an overview of the Tableau dashboards created for the project, and demonstrate the use of a dashboard for urban agriculture (UA) planning on public and private land in the city
In this study we developed a geographic information system (GIS) integrating data on existing and potential UGI in Washington, DC and adapted existing business intelligence software, Tableau, to create a public-use e-tool to facilitate bottom-up UGI development and collaboration between the public and planners

Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Green infrastructure (GI) offers the opportunity for cities to reduce their ecological footprint through self-provisioning of ecosystem services traditionally provided by rural and peri-urban landscapes. A boundary object operating across diverse disciplines [1], GI does not have a single definition either conceptually or in practice.

Objectives

Methods

Conclusion