Abstract
Increased levels of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere, a legacy of the industrial revolution, population growth pressures, and consumerist lifestyle choices, are the main contributors to human-induced climate change. Climate change is commensurate of warming temperatures, reductions in rainfall, increased frequency of extreme weather events, and contributions toward declining public health trends. Green Infrastructure (GI) presents diverse opportunities to mediate adverse effects, while simultaneously delivering human health, well-being, environmental, economic, and social benefits to contemporary urban dwellers. To identify the current state of GI knowledge, a systematic quantitative literature review of peer-reviewed articles (n = 171) was undertaken using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) method. Temporal publication trends, geographical and geological information of research efforts, as well as research focus areas were recorded and reported against each article. The findings of this review confirm the research area to be in a state of development in most parts of the world, with the vast majority of the research emerging from the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Cooler climates produced the majority of research, which were found largely to be of a traditional research article format. The GI research area is firmly dominated by foci comprising planning and policy, environmental and ecological, and social content, although modest attempts have also appeared in health and wellbeing, economic, and quality/performance of green infrastructure areas. Knowledge gaps identified by this review as requiring attention for research growth were identified as: (i) the ambiguity of terminology and the limited broad understanding of GI, and (ii) the absence of research produced in the continents of Asia and South America, as well as in regions with warmer climates, which are arguably equally valuable research locations as cooler climate bands.
Highlights
The Industrial Revolution, occurring circa 1760–1820, marked a change in human life as it was formerly known
This systematic quantitative literature review follows the approach of a growing number of authors (Pickering and Byrne [46], Parker and Simpson [22]; Parker [23]) and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines [46]
Increasing the wide understanding and acceptance of these roles is paramount for assigning appropriate Green Infrastructure (GI) values, as well as appropriate GI implementation rates
Summary
The Industrial Revolution, occurring circa 1760–1820, marked a change in human life as it was formerly known. The resultant environmental consequences were significant, and have driven the need for intervention and careful consideration. Greenhouse gases, occurring naturally in certain concentrations, include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone. A steady balance of greenhouse gases assists in the regulation of temperature on earth; an imbalance can result in detrimental outcomes [1]. Coal, being the main source of energy of large factories between 1760–1820, emitted large volumes of toxins and pollutants (namely carbon dioxide) into the atmosphere. In 2014, it was estimated that nearly 10,000 million metric tons of carbon dioxide were released into the atmosphere as a result of fossil fuel burning [2,3], an amount far surpassing the safe operating space of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere
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