Abstract
Green infrastructure plays a critical role in environmentally sustainable urbanization in developing countries. Based on a review of academic outputs, this paper explores green infrastructure in the context of informal urban settlements. It identifies three ways informal settlements are connected to green spaces and natural ecosystems functioning as urban green infrastructure and then shows examples of benefits derived (ecosystem services) by the urban poor from these connections. Undesirable aspects and negative outcomes, regarded as ecosystem disservices, from the connection to natural ecosystems are also pointed out. The potentials of enhancing ecosystem services in terms of improving quality of life and the environment in informal settlements came to the fore. This work contributes to the growing body of knowledge on urban green infrastructure from the perspective of informal settlements in developing countries.
Highlights
Urban sustainability is impossible without considering green infrastructure
This paper has shown how the urban poor in informal settlements relate with, derive benefits and are negatively affected by connection to different components of green infrastructure
This paper contributes to the growing body of knowledge on green infrastructure from the perspective of informal urban settlements in developing countries
Summary
Urban sustainability is impossible without considering green infrastructure. Green infrastructure has been (and still) seen as natural, semi-natural and artificial networks of multifunctional natural ecosystems at different spatial scales (Tzoulas et al 2007). The notion that environmentally sustainable urbanization cannot be achieved without considering green infrastructure does not seem entrenched in developing countries. As argued in the last two decades, environmental sustainability (with reference to green infrastructure) in low-income informal parts of cities, has not been much of a concern/priority to the state and some non-state actors in many developing countries (Dalgliesh et al 1997; Magi 1999; Irurah, Boshoff 2003; Groebel 2007; French, Lalande 2013; Shackleton et al 2014)
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