Sustainability in Action: Green Infrastructure as a Marker of Sustainable Urban Development

Abstract

The current form and pace of urbanization is an ongoing threat to sustainable urban development. As these problems span social, environmental, and economic realms, it is imperative that any proposed solution is able to address these problems holistically. Although a number of silver-bullet solutions such as electric vehicle adoption have been introduced, they do not respond to the problems with an integrated approach. Tackling this problem will require a solution that can be changed and applied on a case-by-case basis. Therefore, the development of green infrastructure is the most efficient solution when responding to the problems threatening urban sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to argue for the efficacy of green infrastructure methods by analyzing the evidence provided about factors like temperature and pollution levels in green cities as compared to other proposed solutions, and to explore critiques of green infrastructure and discuss their potential improvements. The research provided contains a mixture of case studies, participant surveys, and other scientific findings and has the potential to make green infrastructure a priority in the future planning of cities.