Green Infrastructure Planning Research Articles

‘Green icing on the Gray Cake?’ Green infrastructure in federal enforcement action

ABSTRACT A growing number of local governments are adopting Green Infrastructure (GI) as a strategy for urban stormwater management. In the United States, GI has gained particular momentum through federal initiatives. Previous studies have identified regulatory factors playing a pivotal role in the adoption of GI at the local level. However, the integration of GI with federal enforcement actions has received limited research attention. This study examines the first generation of federal consent decrees with GI provisions to provide insights into federal GI policy and local GI planning. The findings reveal inconsistency in GI requirements, with some cases merely encouraging GI adoption, while others mandating a more specific approach to planning and implementation. Drawing on existing GI scholarship, the results of this study suggest the establishment of universal requirements, such as piloting projects, defining success criteria, and incorporating equity considerations into local GI planning.

Transforming urban air quality: Green infrastructure strategies for the urban centers of Ethiopia

Urban green infrastructure (GI) plays a crucial role in improving air quality by removing pollutants and reducing emissions from structures. However, in Ethiopia, inadequate GI planning, largely due to limited awareness among planners and policymakers, can undermine the benefits of GI and worsen urban air quality issues. In this study, we demonstrate how the GI strategy approach can enhance air quality and assess the negative impacts of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) emitted by certain tree species in Ethiopia, using Hawassa as a case study. We utilized a customized i-Tree Eco model to estimate annual pollutant removal and BVOC emissions and applied the Kriging method in ArcGIS to map their spatial distribution. In Hawassa, GI systems removed 274.2 t of pollutants annually, valued at $1.79 million, with SO2 being the most and CO the least removed pollutants. Air pollution removal was highest during the dry season (37.4%) compared to the long (29.7%) and short rainy seasons (32.9%). Conversely, trees emitted 35.78 t of BVOCs annually, with monoterpene and isoprene being nearly equal contributors. Eucalyptus genus, Casuarina equisetifolia, and Schinus molle species were the top BVOC emitters despite their low population percentages in the study area. While GI types such as urban parks and institutional compounds are effective at pollutant removal, they also exhibit higher BVOC emissions. Our findings highlight the need for optimized species selection, improved GI planning, and enhanced policy support to maximize GI effectiveness, providing valuable insights for planners and policymakers in integrating GI into urban spatial planning.

Developing an integrative management plan for urban and peri-urban forests: A case study of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Many cities worldwide have adopted management strategies for urban forests, typically focusing on forest parks, street trees and park trees. However, planning that concentrates on natural urban forest areas remains scarce. This study introduces an advanced planning framework for the integrative management of natural urban forests and applies it to Ljubljana's urban forests (2151 ha). The framework consists of an initiation phase and a six-step planning procedure. Through a comprehensive process lasting 20 months, with strong stakeholder involvement and political support, we developed a strategic plan for Ljubljana’s entire urban forest area and an operational plan for a specific block within this area. The approach employs the integrative management of forest stands within or near the city, incorporating harmonised activities in silviculture, recreation, protection, harvesting and communication. This planning method aims to bridge the gap between traditional forest management planning and urban green infrastructure planning.

Intersecting social welfare with resilience to streamline urban flood management

Urban policymakers have long searched for stormwater management plans that incentivize stakeholders to adopt Green Infrastructure (GI) while effectively reducing the vulnerability of drainage systems. In this regard, our research introduces a novel framework to develop GI strategies that provide both hydrological resiliency and social acceptance. To achieve this, first, using a coupled Stormwater Management Model (SWMM) and Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II (NSGA-II), optimal alternatives for GI planning were generated. In the optimization process, we used a novel Simple Urban Flood Resilience Index (SUFRI) to consider the internal performance of the system in identifying resilient plans. Derived management strategies warrant runoff volume reduction and resilience improvement up to 31.3% and 55.1%, respectively. In the next step, Utilitarian-based Social Welfare (USW) was employed to clarify the socio-economic behavior of management strategies. Results indicate that while financial incentives significantly motivate developers to implement GI, they cannot guarantee high social welfare, and achieving a sustainable solution requires evaluating both SUFRI and USW layers under different subsidy levels. Visualizing the SUFRI layer revealed a critical failure in the resiliency trend of solutions that cannot be detected by evaluating simpler metrics, such as runoff volume reduction. This highlights the importance of the SUFRI method in conducting deeper evaluations and preventing financial waste. Finally, we navigated the intersection of USW and SUFRI measures to reach an ideal management plan with optimal supporting level. Our findings showed that the selected solution with the highest social acceptability can improve the resiliency of the system by 29 %. This study is a novel combination of the hydrological and social aspects of stormwater management, enabling decision-makers to take significant steps towards sustainable urban development.

CONCEPT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A GREEN URBAN ECOSYSTEM: MAIN THEORETICAL APPROACHES

The article reveals the basic theoretical approaches to the formation of a green urban ecosystem in the conditions of modern urbanization. The importance of ecological planning in cities and the impact of green spaces on improving the urban environment are substantiated. The necessity of introducing new methods of managing urban ecosystems, taking into account modern environmental challenges, has been established. Based on the set goal, modern approaches to planning and management of green infrastructure are considered. It is argued that the integration of natural components into urban structures is a key prerequisite for the sustainable development of urban areas. The main principles of creation and maintenance of the urban ecosystem were studied, in particular in the context of adaptation to climate change. The main trends in the development of green spaces in cities have been determined. Further perspectives of research should be directed to the integration of innovative solutions to improve the ecological condition of urban areas. The article also discusses the concept of urban ecosystems and what functions they perform. The latest scientific studies on the growing interest in the problems of green infrastructure development in cities were analyzed. Fifteen principles of green urbanism are analyzed in detail and examples of how they are implemented in some countries of the European Union are given. It is proved that the implementation of the concept of "green" economy is possible only if state mechanisms are introduced to encourage investment in environmentally safe production. Attention is focused on the need to change the methods and forms of fiscal policy at the government level, adopt appropriate laws and regulations, radically reform the policy of subsidizing and supporting renewable energy sources, and further increase investment in the "green" sectors of the economy. It is shown that the development and implementation of the concept of "green" economy in Ukraine should be considered as the main reference point and the basis of state policy. To improve environmental safety in the capital, it is necessary to consistently implement a range of organizational, technical, innovative and other environmental measures with mandatory definition of the social optimum of environmental quality, which will be accompanied by increasing environmental costs and significantly increasing society's requirements for economical use.

Contextual and socio-economic factors affected urban dwellers experiences of and vulnerability to ecosystem disservices

Peoples’ experiences of Ecosystem Disservices (EDS) are influenced by socio-economic and environmental characteristics, and this needs better understanding for informed planning and management of urban green infrastructure. The paper investigated the understudied area of how socio-economic and environmental factors influence people's experiences of EDS in urban green spaces, in four towns in South Africa. Employing a questionnaire survey, in 303 randomly selected households in three neighborhoods of different economic standing, alongside statistical analysis provided quantitative data on experiences and vulnerability to EDS. A list of reported EDS was compiled and the number of EDS/respondent was compared between towns, neighborhoods and places of experience, using Kruskal-Wallis test and nested ANOVAs. Respondents’ vulnerability to EDS was assessed by analyzing the magnitudes of experience and coping abilities. The influences of socio-economic and environmental characteristics on experiences of and vulnerability to EDS were assessed using PCAs. Twenty-three EDS were reported in total, with the highest numbers recorded in affluent areas and the lowest in the poorest areas. Irrespective of town and neighborhood, the reported EDS were mainly experienced in domestic gardens and surrounding streets. Consequently, only one EDS seems of high concern, while the others are of lower concern or well manageable by the respondents. Significant influences of socio-economic (education and income levels, source of income, upbringing, frequency of visits to green spaces (GS), length of residence in neighborhoods) and environmental (environmental worldview, garden ownership, membership to environmental NGO) characteristics were observed on the experiences and vulnerability to EDS. Therefore, such variations in and influences on peoples’ experiences and vulnerability to EDS should be considered for sustainable management of urban GS. Also, the creation of GS should be accompanied by actions to improve people relationships to nature as well as to ensure their maintenance and security, particularly public GS and commonages.

Planning for green infrastructure by integrating multi-driver: Ranking priority based on accessibility equity

Green infrastructure provides multifarious benefits, improving urban resilience and sustainability amid increasing climate change and urbanization. Traditional green infrastructure planning studies were based on the spatial-equity principle, which usually neglected residents’ aggregation pattern, leading to the conflict with equitable green exposure. Using the sponge city of Zhengzhou as a case, this study proposes a novel priority ranking strategy, namely accessibility equity. We first spatially quantified the regional socioecological conditions on 0.25 km2 grids as green infrastructure planning drivers, including stormwater management, urban thermal environment, air quality, habitat maintenance and water purification. Subsequently we integrated these planning drivers with population density to conduct spatial autocorrelation analysis, priority ranking, and grid clustering. While most planning drivers are positively correlated with population density, except air quality, some areas show opposite trends in terms of local perspective, suggesting that the spatial equity may lead to mismatch between residents’ demand and GI priority. The priority order based on accessibility equity, rises in the city center and falls in suburbs and industrial zones. The study area is divided into four categories using k-means clustering, and we propose the corresponding adaptive green infrastructure development strategy. The framework can be a practical tool for guiding green infrastructure and sponge city projects.

Optimized green infrastructure planning at the city scale based on an interpretable machine learning model and multi-objective optimization algorithm: A case study of central Beijing, China

Green infrastructure (GI) has developed as a sustainable approach to the mitigation of urban floods. While machine learning (ML) models have exhibited advantages in urban flood simulation, their direct application to support the quantitative planning of GI at the city scale remains a challenge. To address this, an interpretable ML model based on support vector machine (SVM) and the Shapley additive explanations (SHAP) approach is integrated with the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II (NSGA-II) in this study. The model is applied to the case of central Beijing, China, and demonstrates a robust performance with a high area under curve (AUC) value of 0.94. The results of the urban flood susceptibility assessment identify the urban-rural transition zone in the study area as being under a greater flood threat. Via model interpretation with SHAP, the dominant roles of GI and grey infrastructure (GrI) in preventing flood are revealed and the non-linear complementarity between the two is demonstrated to be more significant in study units with a GI proportion of less than 0.45. Supported by the NSGA-II-based optimization framework, optimal GI plans under different total implementations of GI are achieved, among which a solution with a 3.21% increase in the total GI area is selected as that with the best investment efficiency. The pattern of GI implementation is suggested to be dispersed and small-scale by model. This study provides a tool with broad application prospects, effectively integrating GI implementation with urban planning. The findings of this study not only provide important references for the determination of the priority areas of new ecological space in Beijing, but also provide areas that share similar characteristics with new insight into GI planning and the management of urban floods.

Exploring urban forests in Minas Gerais, Brazil: floristic diversity and biome-driven insights to green infrastructure planning

Exploring urban forests in Minas Gerais, Brazil: floristic diversity and biome-driven insights to green infrastructure planning

Identifying the barriers to green infrastructure implementation in semi-arid urban areas using the DPSIR framework: A case study of Amman, Jordan

Research has highlighted the role of green infrastructure (GI) in addressing climate change impacts and other societal and environmental challenges in semi-arid urban areas. Regardless of this potential, GI implementation and research in arid climate zones is limited. Accordingly, using Amman, Jordan as a case study, this research aims to investigate the barriers that impede and prevent GI implementation in semi-arid urban areas. The GI barriers are conceptualized using the Driving–Pressure–State–Impact–Response (DPSIR) framework which was applied on data collected from semi-structured interviews with GI stakeholders in the city. The findings highlighted 17 general implementation barriers grouped into 6 categories. The DPSIR framework specifically highlighted the role of natural and human drivers (e.g. rapid urbanization, institutional capacities, and lacking financial resources) in creating significant barriers to GI implementation. It also illustrated the focus on open spaces and green cover in GI planning in Amman, lacking performance data on GI best practices in semi-arid contexts, and the need of integrated pathways to overcome the identified barriers. The DPSIR framework presents an easy-to-communicate picture of the state of GI implementation in the city that can be utilized by decision-makers, particularly those lacking access to diverse resources. The outcomes of this study enhances our understanding of GI planning in semi-arid urban areas and are beneficial for policymakers and practitioners looking for pathways to promote resilient urban development strategies. Overall, the study calls for further GI research on semi-arid developing contexts.

Green infrastructure and community health: exploring the characteristics of campus users in three university towns in Texas

ABSTRACT Green infrastructure in college campuses and their surrounding communities can bring public health benefits. Using green infrastructure measures in three university towns in Texas, United States, this study explores if and how green infrastructure can impact the physical and mental health status of university campus users in the community. Campus users were estimated as the number of visitors to campus using the SafeGraph mobility data, green infrastructure was measured with land cover and Landsat 8 satellite images, and health status was measured with the CDC health status data. The results of spatial error models suggest a significant moderating effect of tree canopy coverage indicating that green infrastructure could potentially benefit campus users’ health. This gives indirect evidence supporting the health-significant roles of the campus environment. For city planners and policymakers, increasing tree canopy coverage stands out as a promising green infrastructure planning and management strategy that can contribute to the health of campus users/communities.

Optimizing green and gray infrastructure planning for sustainable urban development

The anticipated increase in urban population of 2.5 billion people by 2050 poses significant environmental challenges. While the various environmental impacts of urbanisation have been studied individually, integrated approaches are rare. This study introduces a spatially explicit model to assess urbanization’s effects on ecosystem services (green infrastructure availability, cooling, stormwater retention) and the environmental impact of building construction (material demand, greenhouse gas emissions, land use). Applied to the Netherlands from 2018 to 2050, our results show that integrating green infrastructure development with building construction could increase green areas by up to 5% and stabilize or increase ecosystem service provisioning. Dense building construction with green infrastructure development is generally more beneficial across the Netherlands, reducing resource use and enhancing ecosystem services. Conversely, sparse construction with green infrastructure is more advantageous for newly built areas. These findings offer insights into the environmental consequences of urbanization, guiding sustainable urban planning practices.

A perceived suggestion for green infrastructure planning strategies at urban park in Malaysia: A case study in Taman Tasik Bandar Enstek

A perceived suggestion for green infrastructure planning strategies at urban park in Malaysia: A case study in Taman Tasik Bandar Enstek

Regional forest green infrastructure planning and collaborative governance: A case study from southern Sweden

Green Infrastructure (GI) is a strategically planned network delivering and enhancing diverse ecosystem services whilst preventing further biodiversity loss. Although not mandatory for EU members to implement GI, it is increasingly advocated as a tool for landscape planning. In 2016, the Swedish Government mandated the County Administrative Boards (CABs) to design regional GI plans using a collaborative process. This study explored the GI collaborative process in the region of Scania in southern Sweden, focusing on forest as an important component of Swedish landscapes. We interviewed 14 different stakeholders who participated in the process, and analysed the preconditions, inner workings and outcomes of collaborative GI planning. Despite remarkably different expectations, the perceived outcomes were consistent. Most stakeholders perceived the process as mainly informational rather than deliberative and, in general, use of the GI plan was limited. Despite successful finalisation of the plan, collaboration as a long-term process has not been achieved, which may limit the realisation of activities that foster GI. Scania’s GI planning illustrates the defects of top-down approaches with insufficient resources, failing to address the stakeholders’ trust and positioning. A lack of inclusivity and deliberation undermine the legitimacy of collaborative processes, discrediting the very concept of GI in Sweden. Our analysis indicates that a genuine collaborative process and a long-term commitment to implementing GI is unachievable without sustained and substantial governmental funding, capacity development at the lead agency, thorough consideration of prehistory, and targeted measures to increase trust among stakeholders.

Blue Green Infrastructure Planning: Approaches, Integration in Society and Implementation

With rapidly declining environmental conditions in the urban scenario, the current times demand for not just grey interventions, but more focus on nature based solutions for overcoming the fate of the modern times. Studies show major Indian cities are rapidly losing green cover in the current decade, which must be arrested with efficient approaches. This is extremely important for maintaining resilience in the urban setting. Cities should be resilient to protect its ecology and residents from the aftermath of major disasters. This resilience can be built by a functioning integrated layout of nature based interventions interlinked with planning. This paper is focused on understanding blue green infrastructure, its approaches, how it has been used in various projects in the country and the world to solve certain relevant environmental issues related to the context. The understanding has been tried to be achieved by studying relevant researches and implemented projects. The studies discuss about a range of aspects like geospatial analysis to achieve a network of blue green infrastructure, identifying various service demands and conducting land suitability assessment, identifying the stakeholders involved and on-ground implementation strategies, involvement of the community and the public spaces availability. Thus finally, the research is aimed towards getting an in-depth understanding and in the near future implementing this understanding towards successful integration into a thesis in a selected site context. Key Words: Blue green infrastructure, resilience, disasters, planning, service demands, land suitability assessment, public spaces, community, nature based solutions

Scalar transport after a high-resolution solitary fractal tree based on large-eddy simulation: Implication to urban green infrastructure

Scalar transport is one of the most concerned issues in the urban environment (e.g., pollutants, pollens, and aeolian transport). Vegetations are commonly regarded as scalar-moderation structures in urban areas by influencing airflows, avoiding aeolian erosion and pollution. The morphological multi-scale branch structures of the single tree were usually neglected in previous studies, which, however, can lead to highly inhomogeneous wake. The turbulence generation through the multi-scale branches is not yet clear. The corresponding spatial details of scalar distribution and its mechanism need to be further examined. In this study, the wake after a single fractal tree is investigated using the large-eddy simulation (LES). The spatial characteristics of the wakes are illustrated, indicating susceptible zones in the canopy, first-generation levels of branches, and recirculation regions. Higher-order moments signify the rare, extreme events with strong upward acceleration, removing air masses likely to occur at the canopy shear layer within 3h downstream where h is the characteristic tree height. The quadrant analysis elucidates the scalar transport potential. The scalar distribution and its transport mechanism are visualized, showing dilution and accumulation by the streamwise and vertical velocities. Involving the multi-scale geometries of the tree can provide guidance for urban green infrastructure (UGI) planning, advancing environmental and sustainability development.

Visitation-based classification of urban parks through mobile phone big data in Tokyo

Urban parks, pivotal in fostering physical activity, mental well-being, and environmental stewardship, are integral to green infrastructure planning. Despite advances in georeferenced data applications, existing park classifications often overlook actual visitation patterns. This study reclassifies urban parks using over 5.9 million records from approximately 330 thousand visitors across 300 Tokyo parks, comparing with size-based park categorizations. We employed a range of analytical tools, including principal component analysis, Isolation Forest algorithm, various clustering algorithms, and the Gini index. Our findings first revealed four key visitation indicators, activity intensity, utilization efficiency, temporal occupancy, and revisit volume. These indicators uncovered parks with atypical visitation patterns within each size category, leading to three novel park classifications, everyday leisure parks, social destination parks, and seasonal activity parks. Moreover, we discovered notable disparities in distances traveled to parks, particularly during nights, weekends, and holidays, with pronounced inequalities in seasonal activity parks and smaller parks. The findings advocate for a nuanced park management strategy, prioritizing maintenance and amenity development aligned with observed visitation patterns to enhance recreational potential, thereby contributing insights to urban park research that support the advancement of green infrastructure planning and policy aimed at improving park utility and enjoyment.

Spatial allocation of bioretention cells considering interaction with shallow groundwater: A simulation-optimization approach

Green infrastructure (GI), as one type of ecological stormwater management practices, can potentially alleviate water problems and deliver a wide range of environmental benefits in urban areas. GIs are often planned and designed to reduce runoff and mitigate pollution. However, the influence of GI on groundwater hydrology and that of shallow groundwater on GI performance was seldom considered. This study utilized a calibrated surface-subsurface hydrological model, i.e., Storm Water Management Model coupled with USGS's modular hydrologic model (SWMM-MODFLOW) to consider the interaction between GI and groundwater into the process of GI planning. The optimal implementation ratio, aggregation level and upstream-downstream location of bioretention cells (BC, one type of GI) under different planning objectives and hydrogeologic conditions was explored. The consideration of groundwater management exerted a significant impact on the optimal spatial allocation of BCs. The results showed that when groundwater management was more concerned than runoff control, BCs were recommended to be allocated more apart from each other and more upstream in the catchment because more-distributed and upstream BCs can result in lower groundwater table rise which is beneficial. BCs were overall recommended to be allocated in areas of deeper groundwater tables, coarser soils, and flatter topographies. However, the spatial features of BCs are related to each other, the choice of them are affected by various hydrogeologic factors simultaneously. The exact location of BCs should be determined by considering the trade-off between runoff control efficiency and groundwater impact. The findings obtained in this study can provide guidance on GI planning in shallow groundwater areas.

Understanding and Assessing Climate Change Risk to Green Infrastructure: Experiences from Greater Manchester (UK)

The existing body of research into the environmental and socio-economic benefits of green infrastructure supports the case for it to be positioned as a form of critical infrastructure, particularly in urban settings. It is broadly recognized that extreme weather and climate change pose significant risks to critical infrastructure systems linked to the provision of services, including electricity, water, communications, and transport, and consequently risk assessments and associated adaptation strategies are common practice. However, although green infrastructure is also at risk from extreme weather and climate change, threatening the realization of benefits that it can deliver in urban settings, associated risks to green infrastructure are not widely understood or assessed in practice. This paper discusses the status of existing research on this topic and uses this as a foundation for a Greater Manchester (UK) case study that assesses the risk of low water availability to grassed areas, which represent a key element of the city-region’s green infrastructure. In doing so, the paper demonstrates how risks linked to extreme weather and climate change can be assessed spatially to inform green infrastructure planning. In summary, this paper aims to raise awareness of extreme weather and climate change risk to urban green infrastructure, present an empirical case study and associated methodological approach on this topic, and ultimately support efforts to enhance the resilience of urban green infrastructure to extreme weather and climate change.

Interrelationships and Trade-Offs between Urban Natural Space Use and Biodiversity.

Urban natural spaces provide important ecosystem services and a wide range of health- and well-being-related benefits for their visitors. They are also essential spaces for biodiversity protection and promotion in a world of rising urbanisation rates and worsening impacts of climate change. However, these spaces are often underutilised by urban residents. When they are utilised, this usage often leads to some level of environmental degradation and biodiversity loss. Hence, understanding how to promote both use and biodiversity levels in urban natural spaces is critical. While various reports have studied the broad factors associated with urban natural space use, the specific relationship between biodiversity and use remains to be explored. This paper uses a Systems Thinking approach to unpack the complex relationship between urban natural space use and biodiversity and to help guide the design and management of these spaces in a way that promotes both use and biodiversity. With data collected from a systematic literature review, a causal loop diagram (CLD) was constructed and analysed. The CLD construction and analysis highlighted various key factors that play an important role in relating urban natural space use and biodiversity. Among these is the role of individual and social perceptions and values in determining how biodiversity levels will affect usage, and vice versa. The results were applied to a case study: the Thamesmead regeneration project undertaken by the social housing association Peabody. We made recommendations regarding Peabody's biodiversity and green infrastructure plans for Thamesmead, presenting new design and maintenance techniques and assessing various existing techniques mentioned in the documents. Through the CLD analysis, we uncovered various unintended consequences from common design and maintenance techniques and discuss these trade-offs and relationships.