Green and blue-green infrastructure – benefits, trade-offs, and optimisation of ecosystem services: an overview with perspectives for research and management

This report has been prepared by researchers from the University of Sheffield for built environment, water, and public health professionals in the UK. It collates and presents evidence about the potential benefits of designing Blue Green Infrastructure (BGI) to enhance mental health, physical health, and wellbeing. We hope it will help professionals to advocate for health-promoting BGI to policymakers; to integrate health-promoting BGI into policy, investment, and master-planning; and to design BGI in a way that maximises health benefits. The report identifies three key attributes of BGI that provide health-relevant environmental impacts. Firstly, BGI can be used to promote a healthy physical environment: to diminish noise, reduce heat stress, and improve air quality. Secondly, BGI has beneficial aesthetic and sensory qualities: its appearance, sounds, smells, and tactile qualities can have therapeutic potential even where communities are unable to walk through the area directly (e.g. a pocket park on private land). Thirdly, there are benefits to physically accessible BGI spaces, which can promote exercise and social interaction by allowing a wide range of people with varying mobility needs to pass through them. Together, these aspects of BGI mean that well-designed spaces can make a very real difference. As well as helping to improve general health and wellbeing, they can reduce social and health inequalities in the UK. Research suggests that such health inequalities are currently widening, at a time when the impacts of climate change are also disproportionately impacting poorer communities. We show that BGI offers the opportunity to tackle these two problems together, and thus to build a society that is fair and sustainable for future generations. The COVID-19 pandemic has reemphasised the topicality of this focus, as the quality of people’s local environments is an issue that has been at the forefront of public debate during lockdown. Sections 1 and 2 explain the scope of the report, outline key terminology, and summarise methodological issues. Sections 3-8 then review the literature on the contribution that BGI can make across six specific categories of health impact: noise reduction; heat stress reduction; improved air quality; stress reduction and cognitive restoration; decreased loneliness and enhanced social interaction; and increased physical activity. In section 9, evidence about the potential for BGI to address inequalities is considered. Section 10 then presents the evidence that these impacts can lead to improvements across five wider health outcomes: improved mental health and wellbeing; reduced physical illness; reduced mortality; improved birth outcomes; and healthier body weights. Key design findings are summarised in Section 11. <br>The work was carried out under University of Sheffield Ethics approval no. 022919

A green-blue infrastructure is essential for achieving the European Green Deal objectives and can be used to protect large cities and their metropolitan areas against urban sprawl. Green-blue infrastructure is an important research topic, because green-blue planning networks provide solutions for mitigating contemporary growing urban and climate challenges. Our study aims to create an innovative methodology for defining and analyzing the elements of green-blue infrastructure and their connectivity within Bucharest, Romania and its metropolitan area, to serve as a planning model. The methodology consists of merging European geodata sets with metropolitan and local data, using GIS tools, and analyzing the connectivity within the study area. All connections resulted from implementing the Linkage Mapper tool were operationalized, using high-resolution satellite images and correcting obtained connections, so that deviations from reality were minimized. The results consist of a conceptual model for planning the green-blue infrastructure within Bucharest and in its metropolitan area, embedding an analysis of its connectivity. The study contributes to implementing the concept of green infrastructure in urban and spatial planning, providing tools for planning the green-blue infrastructures of large cities and their metropolitan areas and, implicitly, reducing urban sprawl, improving air quality and mitigating environmental threats due to climate change.

Primary considerations for urban blue-green infrastructure (BGI) encompass sustainable stormwater/urban heat management while biodiversity conservation is often considered an inherent benefit rather than a core planning requirement. However, ecological function of BGI as ‘stepping stones’ or linear corridors for otherwise fragmented habitats is undisputed. While quantitative approaches for modelling ecological connectivity in conservation planning are well established, mismatches in scope and scale with models that support the planning of BGI makes their adoption and integration difficult across disciplines. Technical complexities have led to ambiguity around circuit and network-based approaches, focal node placement, spatial extents, and resolution. Furthermore, these approaches are often computationally intensive, and considerable gaps remain in their use for identifying local-scale critical “pinch-points” that urban planners may respond to with the integration of BGI interventions that address biodiversity enhancement among other ecosystem services. Here, we present a framework that simplifies and integrates the merits of regional connectivity assessments with a focus on urban areas to prioritise BGI planning interventions while reducing computational demands. Our framework facilitates: (1) modelling potential ecological corridors at a coarse regional scale, (2) prioritising local-scale BGI interventions based on the relative contribution of individual nodes in this regional network, and (3) inferring connectivity hot- and cold-spots for local-scale BGI interventions. We illustrate this in the Swiss lowlands, demonstrating how, compared to previous work, we are able to identify and rank different priority locations across the region for BGI interventions in support of biodiversity enhancement and how their local-scale functional design may be benefited by addressing specific environmental variables.

Blue-green infrastructure (BGI) has been recognized as an important tool for sustainable urban stormwater management. BGI is ecosystem-based, relying on biophysical processes, such as detention, storage, infiltration, and biological uptake of pollutants, to manage stormwater quantity and quality. Rain gardens, bioswales, constructed wetlands, retention and detention basins, and green roofs are most commonly used BGI systems. Unlike the single-functioned grey infrastructure, which is the conventional urban drainage system, these landscape systems collectively provide multiple ecosystem services, including flood risk mitigation, water quality treatment, thermal reduction, and urban biodiversity enhancement. In recent years, BGI is increasingly embraced through different initiatives around the world, driven by the urgency to tackle different local challenges, such as water quality standards, water security, increased flood risk, and aquatic ecosystem degradation. Whereas BGI is a relatively new term, the idea and practice are not new. In this chapter, we also showcase four cities—Portland , New York City, Singapore, and Zhenjiang—that are active and progressive in implementing BGI. Although BGI receives increasing attention, mainstreaming BGI remains a challenge today. To promote widespread BGI implementation, future research should focus on case studies on practical BGI experiences to inform strategies for overcoming the barriers to mainstreaming BGI in different cities.

Blue-green infrastructure (BGI) represents a subtype of nature-based solutions that leverages the collective benefits of urban green spaces and urban water management for the purpose of climate change adaptation. The success of BGI as an alternative or as a complement to the current ‘gray’ urban infrastructure is, however, hampered by existing urban planning structures. Given the numerous advantages that BGI can offer, it is essential to integrate different sectors and policy domains in order to ensure its effective implementation. This represents a novel challenge in urban planning, as the responsibility for providing different parts of urban infrastructure is traditionally split across specialized departments. In order to accelerate the successful establishment of BGI through stakeholder collaboration, the infrastructure transition canvas is employed to identify and structure coordination gaps between key actors, with the objective of developing new mechanisms of collaboration. This results in four principal coordination tasks for BGI projects: (i) coordination for value creation, (ii) coordination of stakeholders with formal decision-making power, (iii) engaging stakeholders who have no formal mandate, and (iv) intermediation. In conclusion, the paper presents a synthesis of the conditions required for stakeholder collaboration that contribute to redistributing the roles and responsibilities to facilitate successful BGI implementation.

Urban areas globally are increasingly challenged by climate change, rapid urbanization, and environmental degradation, necessitating innovative solutions for sustainable development. Blue–Green Infrastructures (BGIs) have emerged as a promising approach, integrating water management systems with natural vegetative elements to create resilient urban landscapes. By fostering synergy between urban ecosystems and built environments, BGIs offer multifunctional benefits including flood mitigation, heat reduction, and biodiversity enhancement. This article examines the role of BGIs in boosting urban resilience, highlighting several exemplary projects in Spain in a qualitative and quantitative way that demonstrate its potential to transform urban areas into sustainable and adaptive spaces.

In the article the relevance of this research is due to overcoming the complex of social, environmental and economic problems in urban planning related to environmental improvement, improvement, greening of cities and settlements. Being one of the main elements of urban planning, "green spaces" form a favorable ecological environment. They also help to combat the effect of "thermal islands" by participating in the process of evaporation of moisture; reduce storm water runoff; improve air quality by absorbing atmospheric pollution. Improvement of cities is one of the priority tasks of forming a comfortable urban environment. It includes: improvement of the ecological situation in cities (related to the improvement of the landscaping system, which means scientifically grounded spatial arrangement of all components of urban landscaping according to urban areas) soil, climatic and other factors in order to achieve optimal ecological, sanitary and sanitary and sanitary effects. In the foreign practice of urban planning use the concept of "green infrastructure" ("Green infrastructure") or blue-green infrastructure ("Blue - green infrastructure"), which focuses on the environmental importance of the territory. Which considers the whole spectrum of landscape changes and serves as a basis for the formation and development of a favorable state in cities. The main reason for the interest in green infrastructure in the world is the desire to make the city a more conducive place to live, as well as to climate change. Reducing the negative impact on the environment is the key to the socio-economic development of the country. The purpose of this work is to develop recommendations for the design of green infrastructure. Analysis of existing experience in designing and implementing green infrastructure in an urbanized environment, identifying trends in the further development of their architectural and urban planning structure. The object of the study is the green infrastructure of major cities in the world, including its architectural and urban planning and spatial solutions in the city structure. The article presents typical landscaping schemes and their classification, as well as methods of using green spaces to improve the environmental, social and aesthetic status of cities.

Climate change and intensive urbanisation pose large-scale challenges to engineering infrastructure and the livelihoods of the population in cities, in particular in the form of floods, soil degradation, droughts and increased pollution. The study focuses on the use of blue-green infrastructure (BGI) elements to improve climate resilience and ensure multifunctional development of urban areas. The article analyses the international experience of implementing the sponge city concept with a focus on the role of green structures. Particular attention is paid to assessing the costs and benefits of implementing BGI projects, in particular, the relationship between investment costs and positive effects, such as energy savings, carbon sequestration, improved air quality, and reduced urban heat island intensity. A comprehensive method for assessing the economic and environmental performance of BGI's facilities has been developed, including quantifying energy savings, determining the amount of CO2 sequestration, oxygen production by green structures, and economic evaluation of the benefits of oxygen release. The method also includes an analysis of environmental benefits throughout the life cycle of BGI's facilities, calculation of life cycle costs and estimation of construction costs for individual infrastructure elements. For the applied assessment of economic and environmental benefits, a calculation based on green pavement was made, taking into account its impact on climate change mitigation. Design solutions aimed at reducing the heat load in the urban environment are proposed, in particular, the potential of facade and roof structures to improve cooling and moisture retention efficiency is revealed. The possibilities of using BGI elements for cooling the urban microclimate are determined. The study was carried out as part of the international Erasmus+ and ClimEd projects aimed at developing climate-oriented education and sustainable urban planning.

Aim/Purpose: The aim of the study is to explore students’ encounters with digital tools and how they account for their experiences of using digital tools within formal education. Background: While computers have a long history in educational settings, research indicates that digital tools function both as affordances and constraints, and that the role of digital tools in schools continues to be debated. Taking into consideration student perspectives can broaden the understanding of knowledge formation practices. Methodology: The study is part of a larger ethnographic project, focusing on agency at all levels with respect to digitalization in schools. The present exploratory study is built primarily on interviews with 31 secondary school students at five different schools (15 girls and 16 boys). The analytical framework was a Nexus Analysis, focusing on discourses in place. Contribution: The paper shows how digital tools are conceptualized as being formed by and fitted into the traditions and habits of the institution, rather than acting as a transformative force to change knowledge formation practices in schools. Findings: From the students’ narrative accounts, the following key themes emerge: (1) Action in contexts, (2) Agency in contexts, and (3) Equality in contexts. The first deals with the use of digital tools in school and the interaction order as it is accounted for in the use of digital tools in schools. The second frames human agency with regards to usage of digital tools and how agency fluctuates in interaction. The third deals with the compensating role digital tools are supposed to play for students who are identified with special needs and for students with divergent backgrounds, especially socioeconomic standards. Recommendations for Practitioners: For teachers, the recommendation is to engage in dialogue with the stu-dents on how and when to use digital tools and the affordances and con-straints involved from a student’s point of view. For school leaders, the recommendation is to review how organizational structures, culture, and processes hinder or support the development of new practices in digitalization processes. Recommendation for Researchers: The three key themes that emerged in this study emphasize the need to reflect upon how a panopticon view of contemporary classrooms can be challenged. Involving students in this work is recommended as a means to anchor ideas and results. Impact on Society: This study is part of a larger project at Jönköping University, focusing on agency at all levels with respect to digitalization in schools. The overall goal is to increase our understanding of how to improve digitalization and implementation processes in schools. Future Research: Future studies that address digital technologies in schools need to pay special attention to the interaction between students, teachers, and various kinds of tools to map the nature of the education process, with the aim of challenging the panopticon view of the classroom. Future studies need to focus upon processes themselves, rather than accounts of processes.

The existence of tradeoffs and synergies between ecosystem services emphasize the need to understand the preferences of ecosystem service beneficiaries. In this paper, the preferences of ecosystem services provided by different types of urban forests in South Korea are analyzed to provide insights on the improved distribution and supply of ecosystem services. The Delphi technique was utilized to elicit expert opinions on the categorization of ecosystem services provided by urban forests. A choice experiment on 500 Seoul citizens was then conducted to analyze the preferences for 7 types of ecosystem services – food provision, water flow regulation, noise reduction, microclimate regulation & air quality improvement, moderation & prevention of landslides, biodiversity enhancement, recreation, and health services. An AHP analysis was carried out to investigate experts’ ranking of the relative importance of these ecosystem services. The results showed that except for microclimate regulation & air quality improvement, Seoul citizens’ preferences for different types of urban forests did not differ according to the attribute level of each ecosystem service. There were also no significant differences between the preferences for urban natural parks and urban neighborhood parks, possibly indicating that Seoul citizens perceive them to be similar. Secondly, the results indicate a higher preference for urban forests with certain features, such as a higher proportion of fruit trees and deciduous trees, higher leaf area, denser tree canopy cover, wider distances between trees, and higher levels of species richness. The enhancement of biodiversity was considered the most influential service for Seoul citizens in their choice of urban forests. Seoul citizens were willing to pay 12,176 KRW/year and 21,036 KRW/year to enhance the level of biodiversity from “poor” to “average” and from “average” to “rich,” respectively. Finally, preferences and relative importance for almost all ecosystem services were different for citizens and experts. As it is impossible to maximize the provision of all ecosystem services concurrently, policymakers and urban forest managers need to consider citizens’ preferences and opinions when designing and managing urban forests in order to increase user satisfaction and welfare.

The effects of anthropogenic global environmental change on biotic and abiotic processes have been reported in aquatic systems across the world. Complex synergies between concurrent environmental stressors and the resilience of the system to regime shifts, which vary in space and time, determine the capacity for marine systems to maintain structure and function with global environmental change. Consequently, an interdisciplinary approach that facilitates the development of new methods for the exchange of knowledge between scientists across multiple scales is required to effectively understand, quantify and predict climate impacts on marine ecosystem services. We use a literature review to assess the limitations and assumptions of current pathways to exchange interdisciplinary knowledge and the transferability of research findings across spatial and temporal scales and levels of biological organization to advance scientific understanding of global environmental change in marine systems. We found that species-specific regional scale climate change research is most commonly published, and "supporting" is the ecosystem service most commonly referred to in publications. In addition, our paper outlines a trajectory for the future development of integrated climate change science for sustaining marine ecosystem services such as investment in interdisciplinary education and connectivity between disciplines.

The authors investigate the theoretical foundations of the concept of ecosystem, interdisciplinary approaches and features of integrated STEM education in the educational process, analyzed the components of the educational ecosystem and proved that they all directly affect the quality of STEM subjects. The authors conducted a survey to identify ways to develop components of the ecosystem of STEM education, which involved 105 respondents, students of pedagogical specialties of Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University and teachers of secondary schools in different regions of Ukraine. The analysis showed that the successful implementation of STEM education, involving all components of the ecosystem, involves the development of science education, in particular, the introduction of inquiry-based learning and the use of digital technologies in the educational process. Process skills are described, which are formed using inquiry-based learning, examples of tasks for the formation of basic and integrated skills of the scientific process are presented. Based on the research, the role of digital tools in the development of science education is demonstrated and groups of digital tools are identified that are necessary for ecosystem development and will help increase the efficiency of the educational process, make STEM learning interesting and productive; examples of digital resources that support students' learning in various integrated STEM environments are given and their role in the development of the STEM education ecosystem is described. Digital tools can be used to increase students' positive motivation, expand their experience and accelerate learning, they help to study STEM subjects and encourage students to explore scientific ideas in new ways.

The COVID-19 crisis and associated lockdowns have exposed the extent of social isolation among older adults (OAs). Currently, the French government and medical, social, and charitable organizations are working to find means of limiting the multiple psychological and physical consequences of social isolation on the health of OAs. One proposal is to help the elderly become more comfortable using digital tools (DTs). However, the ability of DTs to reduce social isolation is disputed in the literature. This study aimed to collect the views of OAs on social isolation; to identify the determinants of the use or not of DTs, in particular in the context of a lockdown; and the role of DTs in the strategy to reduce social isolation. This qualitative study was based on 27 semi-structured individual interviews with OAs ≥ 80 years, in Côte-d’Or and Haute-Marne (French departments), from March to May 2021. A total of 96.3% of participants had already owned one or more DTs (mobile phone, tablet, or computer) for several years. The lockdown had not prompted the population to equip themselves more. The most common reason for using DTs was to maintain contact with relatives, and 63% of the participants said that DTs have a positive impact in reducing social isolation. However, there is a significant need for assistance and training in their use, especially since many services are now offered online. The participants suggested that the key to minimizing social isolation remained the maintenance of social contacts. In conclusion, DTs appear to be useful for helping the elderly maintain social links with relatives and, therefore, have a strategic place in the reduction of social isolation. However, these tools should not replace in-person interactions.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways and lung parenchyma with multiple systemic manifestations. Exacerbations of COPD are important events during the course of the disease, as they are associated with increased mortality, severe impairment of health-related quality of life, accelerated decline in lung function, significant reduction in physical activity, and substantial economic burden. Telemedicine is the use of communication technologies to transmit medical data over short or long distances and to deliver healthcare services. The need to limit in-person appointments during the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a rapid increase in telemedicine services. In the present review of the literature covering published randomized controlled trials reporting results regarding the use of digital tools in acute exacerbations of COPD, we attempt to clarify the effectiveness of telemedicine for identifying, preventing, and reducing COPD exacerbations and improving other clinically relevant outcomes, while describing in detail the specific telemedicine interventions used.

PurposeThe purpose of this empirical study is to explore the efficacy of digital tools in enhancing learning outcomes within Indian higher education, specifically in the context of supporting Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4), which aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. This research seeks to identify how digital tools can facilitate improved learning experiences and outcomes, thus contributing to the broader educational objectives outlined in SDG4. The research seeks insights from a range of higher education stakeholders, including students, faculties, employers, entrepreneurs, and self-employed individuals.Study design/methodology/approachThis is a study via questionnaire containing closed ended questions to gather comprehensive data from students and educators across 5 higher education institutions of Delhi/NCR. A sample of 400 educators &amp; learners members participated in the study, providing insights into their experiences with digital learning tools. The data collected were analyzed using statistical methods to identify trends and correlations regarding the use of digital tools in the learning process.FindingsThe findings indicate that the integration of digital tools significantly enhances student engagement, motivation, and overall learning outcomes. Students reported increased accessibility to educational resources, institutional support, improved collaboration among peers, and a more personalized learning experience. Additionally, educators noted that digital tools facilitate more effective teaching strategies and foster an inclusive learning environment. However, challenges such as technological disparities and the need for adequate training were also identified, highlighting the importance of addressing these barriers to maximize the potential of digital tools in higher education.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the existing literature by providing empirical evidence on the role of digital tools in supporting SDG4 within higher education. It offers valuable insights into the benefits and challenges associated with digital learning environments, making it a significant resource for educators, policymakers, and institutions aiming to enhance educational practices through technology. The findings underscore the necessity for ongoing investment in digital infrastructure and training, ensuring that all learners and educators can benefit from the transformative potential of digital learning tools. This research not only reinforces the importance of digital education in achieving SDG4 but also serves as a call to action for stakeholders to prioritize equitable access to digital resources in higher education for inclusive growth.