Implementation Of Green Infrastructure Research Articles

Designing and evaluating the green infrastructure implementation scenarios while considering the local social environment

Designing and evaluating the green infrastructure implementation scenarios while considering the local social environment

Design urban climate-resilience with Nature-Based Solutions and Green Infrastructures. Challenges, issues, and best practices for neighborhood-scale regeneration

Climate change poses unprecedented challenges to urban environments, mostly affecting already vulnerable communities and ecosystems. While Climate Action (13th Sustainable Development Goal) still tends to focus on economic shifts and technological fixes, urban design and planning can play a crucial role in climate adaptation processes, enhancing socio-ecological resilience, while improving inclusivity, livability, wellbeing for all, opening to sustainable development scenarios. By focusing on nature-based solutions (NBS) and green infrastructure (GI), the contribution, which is part of an ongoing research, aims at identifying issues, challenges, and best practices to operationalize climate resilient adaptation through urban nature design and planning process and actions for neighborhood scale’s regeneration. Through a qualitative methodology, three neighborhood case studies, recognized as best practices, will be compared in order to understand, issue and procedures related to the implementation of climate NBS and GI inside urban regeneration design and planning process.eworks towards equitable and livable urban futures.

Leveraging the No Net Land Take Policy through Ecological Connectivity Analysis: The Role of Industrial Platforms in Flanders, Belgium

Land take for urbanisation has become a significant problem in many parts of the world due to environmental, social and economic impacts associated with the rapid depletion of blue and green spaces. In Europe, literature reveals a massive loss of ecosystems due to land take. The European Union has formulated a “No Net Land Take Policy” to stop new development activities on the available urban lands by 2050 within its member countries. In this paper, we highlight opportunities for mainstreaming green infrastructure planning in the industrial areas located in Flanders, Belgium, to enhance ecological connectivity towards the No Net Land Take Policy. The ecological connectivity was analysed using a blended methodology combining spatial analysis at the scale of the entire region and that of sixteen sub catchments within using the Patch-Corridor-Matrix model. A multifunctionality framework for assessing green infrastructure implementation was designed based on an analysis of the scientific literature discussing the ecological benefits of green infrastructure networks within industrial platforms. Our results show that industrial platforms might provide a broad spectrum of implementation opportunities reflecting the multi-functionality of green infrastructure networks while highlighting to what extent the underdeveloped areas laying within the boundary of industrial platforms are suitable for green infrastructure expansion.

Identification of Potential Land Locations for Green Open Space in Cirebon City Center (Case study: Pekalipan, Kesambi, and Kejaksan Districts)

Society cannot ignore the rapid growth of Cirebon city, as evidenced by the population growth rate, which has increased by 2.91% per year compared to the surrounding area. This growth is expected to lead to an increase in built-up land and a reduction in green open spaces in Cirebon City, amounting to approximately 10.5%. This decline green space can increase urban temperatures, especially in Cirebon City. This study focuses on identifying potential locations for green open space from the macro scale of Cirebon City to the microscale in the city center. The analysis reveals a rise in temperature in the city center, with temperatures generally decreasing from the center to the periphery. Surface temperatures have shown an increase from 2015 to 2021, rising from 30.64°C in 2015 to 32.65°C in 2021. The main objective of this study is to identify potential green open space locations in Cirebon City Center. This research employs a quantitative, descriptive, and spatial approach, involving data collection through field observations and literature studies. The research methodology includes the utilization of remote sensing technology to process Landsat 8 images, which aids in the identification of potential green open space locations. The study results indicate that there is an area of 8.02 hectares, or 1.16%, that aligns with the Regional Detail Spatial Plan (RDTR) but necessitates efforts to enhance the quality of green open spaces through methods such as design, management, and community participation. Additionally, there is an area covering 681.42 hectares, not covered by the RDTR, which is a priority for greening through the implementation of green infrastructure.

An Assessing Existence of Legal Infrastructure That Supports the Development of Green Investment Indonesia

In this paper, we describe green infrastructure as no longer a foreign concept in spatial and regional planning. The concept has become an integral part of the increasing demand for land for urban development, and the need for green open space to balance the development. This has led many countries to start implementing green infrastructure as part of the urban development "trend". The various applications are summarized in this book, with a focus on the United States, the United Kingdom, case studies of several countries in the European Union, and Singapore. The book also includes a chronological sequence of laws and regulations that support the implementation of green infrastructure in these countries, so as to illustrate how the implementation of green infrastructure requires a process to realize a strong legislative basis. Keywords: Legal Infrastructure, Green Investment, Economic Development

Persistent Social Vulnerability in Washington D.C. Communities and Green Infrastructure Clustering

Cities worldwide are presently contending with the intricate task of formulating urban infrastructure that seamlessly blends sustainability and resilience to effectively tackle urgent challenges. An increasingly prominent strategy gaining swift traction is the deployment of green infrastructure (GI), heralding a multitude of advantages for the urban milieu. As a growing body of research highlights the emergence of a new equity issue in our infrastructures from the perspective of environmental justice, it becomes evident that there is a significant gap in comprehensive studies investigating the combined temporal and spatial evolution of green infrastructure (GI) distribution. This research aims to address this gap by adopting a novel approach that explicitly considers the temporal dimension of GI distribution. Unlike previous studies that often rely on cross-sectional snapshots, this study employs a panel data analysis, which allows for a comprehensive examination of how GI distribution evolves over time. The primary research question addressed in this study is whether GI distribution in Washington D.C. exhibits a propensity to concentrate within certain communities. This inquiry delves into the pressing concern of the potential exacerbation of existing disparities through GI implementation. The study’s findings may drive evidence-based policy recommendations that foster equitable distribution strategies, guaranteeing that socially vulnerable communities reap the rewards of GI’s positive impacts.

Evaluation of an Incentive Programme for Increasing Green Infrastructure on Vineyards

Wine grape ecosystems with low species richness and reliance on agrichemicals have weak resilience to environmental impacts. Increasing biodiversity through green infrastructure (GI) not only helps mitigate some of these impacts but can provide additional benefits to growers and the public. Despite this, many vineyards have limited GI. While scholars suggest incentive programmes may help to encourage GI implementation, few studies have evaluated their effectiveness. We surveyed winegrowers and their vineyards in the Waipara Valley sub-region, New Zealand, to evaluate an incentive programme aimed at increasing GI on vineyards, particularly indigenous vegetation. The results indicated the programme was effective in encouraging growers to plant indigenous plants in areas incapable or unsuitable for growing grapes, largely in support of nature conservation, aesthetics, branding, and sales. It was less successful in encouraging growers to plant them in productive areas. While substantial GI, primarily in the form of inter-row cover crops, was managed in these areas, most were exotic plants seen by growers to provide superior services (especially erosion control, weed suppression and pest regulation) at lower management complexity and cost. Growers identified six GI enablers: (1) promoting GI types that provide greater grower services than disservices and costs of implementation and management; (2) implementing GI where biophysical conditions support success; (3) providing assistance with plant selection and design; (4) providing GI implementation and/or management funding; (5) developing GI certification policies and regional association programmes; and (6) providing government GI regulations, strategies, and incentives. They also identified five barriers: (1) insufficient grower appreciation for indigenous GI services; (2) grower concerns that some GI disservices were greater than their services; (3) grower belief that costs of GI implementation and/or management were greater than those of alternative practices; (4) harsh and remote GI growing conditions; (5) lack of grower knowledge regarding how to design plantings, especially those that could provide multiple services; and (6) lack of sufficient financial resources for GI implementation and/or management. Twenty recommendations for improving GI implementation are provided.

Exploring Public Preference and Willingness to Pay for the Ecosystem Benefits of Urban Green Infrastructure: Evidence from a Discrete Choice Experiment of Pilot Sponge Cities in China

Global extreme weather events such as rainstorms, floods and droughts have become increasingly frequent, posing significant threats to human beings worldwide. Green infrastructure has been implemented for decades to mitigate these issues. However, its widespread adoption in cities is still limited. A lack of sustainable funds was viewed as a great challenge for its widespread implementation. Many developed countries have practiced public participation and stormwater fee systems to mitigate these challenges. To assess the value that citizens place on the ecosystem benefits provided by urban green infrastructure is of great importance for increasing public participation and their willingness to pay. Thus, this paper aims to explore public preferences and their willingness to pay for the benefits of green infrastructure to support the construction and maintenance costs. A discrete choice experiment method was employed and five attributes were selected: reduction in run-off pollutant, degrees of ponding, plant type, planting aesthetics and the amount of payment. The Ngene1.2 software was used to generate a questionnaire, and data collected from the case cities, Xianyang and Xi’xian New Area, China, were analyzed using the mixed logit model. The results revealed that in Xianyang, the willingness to pay was not significantly associated with cognition, while in Xi’xian New Area, willingness to pay was positively related to cognition. Respondents exhibited a significant willingness to pay for green infrastructure to achieve reduced degrees of ponding in both cities, as well as improving planting aesthetics in Xi’xian New Area. Based on these findings, we conclude that government decision-makers should prioritize disseminating knowledge about green infrastructure to residents before implementing such projects in communities. The findings provide valuable insights into the potential economic value of urban green infrastructure and can guide policymakers and urban planners in making decisions regarding the design, implementation, and management of green infrastructure. This study contributes to the understanding of citizen perspectives and the economic evaluation of ecosystem services provided by urban green infrastructure.

Analyzing the validity of load capability curve: how economic complexity, renewable energy, R&D, and communication technologies take their part in G-20 countries.

Intense anthropogenic contamination of the air, water, and soil inspires scholars to examine the causes of pollution and provide remedies to assure environmental sustainability. Therefore, researchers in this study are driven to investigate the causes of the severe air, water, and soil contamination that has resulted from human activity and to offer recommendations for achieving environmental sustainability. This research contributes to the ecological works by suggesting the load capability curve (LCH) hypothesis and using the load capacity factor (LC) to investigate components influencing climatic quality. The LC enables thorough climatic value examination when comparing ecological footprint and biocapacity. Information and communication technologies (INF), development and research (R&D), renewable energy (RE) usage, and disposable income are all examined, considering their effects on the load capacity factor. This analysis utilizes the cross-sectionally augmented autoregressive distributed lag estimator and the Westerlund cointegration on data for the G-20 countries from 1995 to 2018. Empirical evidence suggests that renewables, R&D spending, economic complexity, and INF all benefit environmental quality. This study cannot support the LCH hypothesis, which states that increasing income worsens ecological conditions up to a certain point but then aids in improving environmental quality afterward. Based on the findings, G-20 governments should prioritize environmental policies that boost economic growth, spread renewable energy, prioritize research and development spending, and assist the implementation of green INF infrastructure.

Resilience Assessment in Urban Water Infrastructure: A Critical Review of Approaches, Strategies and Applications

Urban water infrastructure (UWI) comprises the main systems, including water supply systems (WSS), urban drainage/stormwater systems (UDS) and wastewater systems (WWS). The UWI needs to be resilient to a wide range of shocks and stresses, including structural failures such as pipe breakage and pump breakdown and functional failures such as unmet water demand/quality, flooding and combined sewer overflows. However, there is no general consensus about the resilience assessment of these systems widely presented by various research works. This study aims to critically review the approaches, strategies and applications of the resilience assessment for the complex systems in UWI. This review includes examining bibliometric analysis, developed frameworks related to resilience assessment to help comprehend resilience concepts for the specified UWI systems in urban settings, strategies for improving resilience, resilience indicators and common tools used for modelling resilience assessment in UWI. The results indicate that resilience assessment has primarily been conducted in developed countries, underscoring the macroeconomic significance of UWI. Three key areas have been identified for analysing resilience in UWI: system design, development of resilience concepts and implementation of green infrastructure. Moreover, it has been discovered that although resilience is commonly defined using technical approaches, a more comprehensive understanding of resilience can be gained through a holistic approach. Furthermore, while strategies such as system upgrades, decentralisation, digitalisation and nature-based solutions can enhance UWI resilience, they may be insufficient to fulfil all resilience indicators. To address the challenge of effectively comparing different resilience options, it is crucial to extensively examine comprehensive and sustainability-based indicators in future research.

Simulation and Comprehensive Evaluation of the Multidimensional Environmental Benefits of Sponge Cities

The implementation of grey and green infrastructure is an effective means to address urban flooding and nonpoint source pollution, but due to the complexity of the process and the diversity of benefits, there is a lack of measurement of the comprehensive benefits. Adopting a typical university in Beijing as an example, this paper simulated the multidimensional benefits of the water quantity, water quality, and ecology of grey and green facility renovation by coupling the storm water management model (SWMM) and InfoWorks Integrated Catchment Management (ICM). Monetization methods and economical means were employed to characterize the comprehensive benefits. The results showed that grey and green infrastructure retrofitting reduced the number of severe overflow nodes in the study area by 54.35%, the total overflow volume by 22.17%, and the nonpoint source pollution level by approximately 80% under the heavy rain scenario and 60% under the rainstorm scenario. The annual benefits of grey and green infrastructure renovation reached CNY764,691/year: of this amount, CNY275,726/year was from hydrological regulation, CNY270,895/year was from nonpoint source pollution reduction, and CNY218,070/year was from ecological improvement. The benefits of green facilities were higher than those of grey facilities, and the combined benefits were negatively correlated with the rainfall level, with a total benefit–cost ratio of 1.19. The results provide methodological and data support for grey and green infrastructure retrofitting within the context of sponge cities.

Ethical leadership and environmental performance: The role of green IT capital, green technology innovation, and technological orientation

Drawing upon the resource-based perspective, we develop and test a serial mediation model of CEO ethical leadership and environmental performance. Specifically, we propose that ethical leadership enhance environmental performance and this link is explained by green IT capital and green technology innovation, with a particular focus on the moderating role of firm technological orientation. The hypothesized relationships were tested in structural equation modeling with survey data from 303 Saudi small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The results illustrate that the indirect effect of CEO ethical leadership on environmental performance is serially mediated by green IT capital and green technology innovation. The results also show that firm technological orientation moderates the relationship between CEO ethical leadership and green IT capital. This study offers practical insights and suggests that SMEs leadership focus on the creation and implementation of green infrastructure for successful implementation of green practices that can contribute to improved environmental performance.

Professional differences in green infrastructure implementation: A case study of integrating engineering and ecological knowledge systems in the water sector

As water organizations adopt green infrastructure for stormwater management to increase sustainability, new types of professionals are needed that were not previously widespread in the industry. Ecologists and other ecologically-oriented employees are being brought into these organizations that have long been mostly oriented around an engineering knowledge system. This study examines how these two different knowledge systems interact within a water organization, outlining the differences in their underlying assumptions and orientations that can cause friction. The research used a case study approach to examine implementation of asset management within a water organization that has been building and managing green infrastructure for over thirty years. It found that integration around a common decision process can occur, but that it is a slow process filled with continuous negotiation. The research suggests that water organizations looking to establish green infrastructure programs should be more aware and intentional about discussing differences in professional knowledge systems when bringing new types of professions into an established organization.

The impact of stormwater management strategies on the flow regime of a peri-urban catchment facing urbanisation and climate change: a distributed modelling study in Lyon, France

ABSTRACT The relative impact of urbanisation (urban sprawl), climate change (rainfall and evapotranspiration) and stormwater disconnection strategies (implementation of green infrastructure (GI)) on a peri-urban stream in the western suburbs of Lyon, France, was investigated using a distributed, physically based model (J2000P). Results showed that ambitious catchment-scale implementation of GI has the potential to mitigate some hydrological effects of urbanisation, especially a drastic reduction of combined sewer overflows. However, GI did not have a large impact on the stream flow regime, especially in the context of climate change, as the stream is dominated by non-urban contributions. Spatially distributed models have the capacity to inform river managers about the extent of implementation of GI needed to achieve given management goals and highlight some limitations of disconnection strategies. Indeed, while GI improved the resilience of sewer networks to global change, it was not sufficient to compensate for the effects of climate change on streamflow.

An Evaluation of Local Comprehensive Plans Regarding Green Infrastructure in 52 Cities across the U.S. Gulf Coast Region

The utilization of green infrastructure (GI) showed promising results as a flood mitigation strategy and a viable solution for building community resilience and achieving sustainability, especially in light of the challenges posed by climate change and increasing climate-related hazards. Meanwhile, it remains uncertain how local governments incorporated the key principles of GI into their planning and regulatory frameworks, particularly their comprehensive plans. This study aimed to fill in the gaps by evaluating U.S. Gulf Coast cities’ comprehensive plans regarding GI. Using the content analysis method, a sample of fifty-two city comprehensive plans was evaluated to determine how well local plans support GI and to examine the factors which influence the quality of local plans. Our results indicate that the sampled cities in the Gulf Coast region are likely to have low willingness to plan and implement GI. Moreover, results from statistical analysis implied that the sampled Gulf Coast cities are more likely to produce higher-quality plans in terms of GI when there are more opportunities for public participation and involvement in the planning process. Findings from our study can provide valuable information and direction for local authorities and planners to improve the performance of their comprehensive plans and support GI implementation in the future.

Assessing Potential Effects of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) on Water Ecosystem Service in the Interurban Micro-Watershed Río Torres, Costa Rica

The implementation of green infrastructure (GI) as Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) generates positive effects on the water ecosystem service in an urban context. Practices such as bioretention cells, green roofs, rain gardens, permeable pavements, and infiltration trenches contribute to treating large volumes of runoff and providing safe spaces for populations living in highly urbanized areas. With the aim to simulate these effects, a hydrological modeling was carried out using the i-Tree Hydro Plus model, which quantified the runoff generated from precipitation events and effective transformations (NBS) to cope with runoff. Eight scenarios were developed: a baseline scenario, five future scenarios with green infrastructure, a scenario with increased tree coverage, and a scenario with increased urbanization. Our hypothesis is that NBS would reduce runoff and increase permeable flow. The analysis of the feasibility of implementing the modeled green infrastructures was carried out through consultation with local stakeholders in the micro-watershed. We found that bioretention cells decrease runoff by 5%, green roofs by 4%, rain gardens by 4%, permeable pavements by 4.5%, and infiltration trenches by 7.5% compared to the baseline scenario where runoff accounts for 32% of water balance flows. The scenario of increased tree coverage had a similar behavior to the baseline scenario, indicating that efforts in this alternative would generate a limited impact on the reduction of runoff. With increased urbanization, impermeable flow increases up to 78%, which would generate floods. Implementing NBS would be feasible since this type of initiative is included in the agenda of many regulatory instruments of urban planning in Costa Rica.

The Nature Smart Cities business model: A rapid decision-support and scenario analysis tool to reveal the multi-benefits of green infrastructure investments

Incorporating natural spaces within urban areas has been shown to have multiple benefits. However, despite greening and adaptation strategies at different levels of government, progress remains slow with a lack of easy to use and comprehensive tools identified as key to overcoming this. This paper presents a co-designed tool with academic and local authority partners to demonstrate the ecosystem service benefits of small-scale urban green infrastructure projects. Through the tool, users can readily assess the impact of green infrastructure investments on the delivery of a selection of ecosystem services in the early stages of a project. Furthermore, the tool provides a standardised assessment of cultural ecosystem services’ contributions, as well as offering a method to score spatial designs on the impact on habitat for biodiversity. Use of the tool is demonstrated using a pilot study in Kapelle, the Netherlands. The results set out an overview of the impacts of the spatial design on estimated ecosystem service delivery. They also show the tool’s potential to add value in early project stages and as a planning and design tool, helping to maximise the benefits that can be achieved through green infrastructure design. Complementing these arguments with ball-park estimations on green infrastructure costs, the Nature Smart Cities Business Model aims to offer public sector officers the means to create a business case for green infrastructure measures, facilitating the translation from strategies to actual plans, thus benefitting green infrastructure implementation in the public realm.

Critical pedagogical designs for SETS knowledge co-production: online peer- and problem-based learning by and for early career green infrastructure experts

Despite a growing understanding of the importance of knowledge co-production for just and sustainable urban transformations, early career green infrastructure experts typically lack opportunities to practice transdisciplinary knowledge co-production approaches within their normal training and professional development. However, using online collaboration technologies combined with peer- and problem-based learning can help address this gap by putting early career green infrastructure experts in charge of organizing their own knowledge co-production activities. Using the case study of an online symposia series focused on social-ecological-technological systems approaches to holistic green infrastructure implementation, we discuss how critical pedagogical designs help create favorable conditions for transdisciplinary knowledge co-production. Our work suggests that the early career position offers a unique standpoint from which to better understand the limitations of current institutional structures of expertise, with a view towards their transformation through collective action.

Pathways to Greening Border Cities: A Policy Analysis for Green Infrastructure in Ambos Nogales

Green infrastructure (GI) has been proposed as a decentralized solution to complex urban water management issues. However, public policy remains a critical challenge for the wide adoption of GI, which is exacerbated in transboundary settings. We draw from public policy theory to analyze GI policies at the US–Mexico border. We examine the case of Ambos Nogales—two sister cities grappling with complex water management challenges. We examined existing policies and evaluated their impact on the implementation of GI at multiple levels (local, state, national, and binational). We also conducted interviews and a focus group with stakeholders. Our analysis unveils a set of barriers to the adoption of GI and a suite of opportunities for the enactment of GI policies. We outline five pathways for greening border cities, including (i) creating market-based GI incentives, (ii) adopting the net-zero urban water approach, (iii) engaging with existing institutions for greening efforts, (iv) planning for a GI network at the watershed scale, and (v) supporting local champions. By addressing shortcomings of policy and regulatory frameworks hindering local capacity, border cities will be more likely to adopt and widely implement GI solutions for more sustainable urban water management.

Planning for green infrastructure based on integration of multi-driving factors: A case study in pilot site of sponge city

The implementation of green infrastructure (GI) is crucial for improving the resilience of cities to the challenges of urbanization and climate change. However, the practicality of GI retrofitting is often neglected in traditional GI planning, which tends to focus mainly on the benefits of GI. In this study, we spatially quantify regional states from six aspects, including stormwater management, air quality, access to green space, urban heat island effect, habitat quality and development level on 1km2 grids. While the first five indicators represent the benefits of GI, the last indicator represents the opportunity cost for GI retrofitting. These regional states are treated as driving factors to sway overall GI planning and are further integrated for synergy and trade-off analysis, priority ranking and grids clustering. The results reveal significant spatial unevenness of regional states, which indicates the necessity for targeted GI planning. The spatial pattern of synergy and priority ranking suggests that the city center in the eastern bank of the river should be prioritized for GI intervention. Adaptive GI strategies are proposed based on the results of grids clustering. The developed approach could be conducive for decision makers in implementing targeted GI planning for responding to spatial unevenness.