TY - JOUR
T1 - Why go green? Comparing rationales and planning criteria for green infrastructure in U.S. city plans
AU - Hoover, Fushcia Ann
AU - Meerow, Sara
AU - Coleman, Emma
AU - Grabowski, Zbigniew
AU - McPhearson, Timon
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) under funding received from the National Science Foundation DBI-1639145. We gratefully acknowledge the support of The JPB Foundation for this work, through a project entitled “Environment, Health, and Poverty: Is Green Infrastructure a Universal Good?”. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant number(s) DEB-2224662, Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research Program (CAP LTER).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors
PY - 2023/9
Y1 - 2023/9
N2 - Green infrastructure is an increasingly popular urban sustainability strategy, widely promoted for its ability to provide multiple benefits. We examined 120 planning documents from 19 U.S. cities to identify if and how the stated benefits that cities use within their rationales for green infrastructure programs (rationale statements) align with the criteria used to site green infrastructure at the neighborhood scale (siting statements). Our findings suggest that many of the desired benefits stated in the rationales for green infrastructure lack corresponding and specific siting criteria. This was particularly evident for rationale statements concerning social and cultural ecosystem services, seemingly because certain benefits, especially those related to stormwater management, are prioritized over other green infrastructure services. While multiple benefits remain a dominant rationale for green infrastructure in the cities analyzed, including stormwater management, social cohesion, and biodiversity benefits, siting criteria were dominated by stormwater management, available locations, and other logistical considerations. These findings indicate a large-scale misalignment between the multifunctional ideal of urban green infrastructure and the procedures used to implement green infrastructure programs. We conclude with a discussion of how siting criteria and processes can be elaborated to deliver the desired benefits of green infrastructure.
AB - Green infrastructure is an increasingly popular urban sustainability strategy, widely promoted for its ability to provide multiple benefits. We examined 120 planning documents from 19 U.S. cities to identify if and how the stated benefits that cities use within their rationales for green infrastructure programs (rationale statements) align with the criteria used to site green infrastructure at the neighborhood scale (siting statements). Our findings suggest that many of the desired benefits stated in the rationales for green infrastructure lack corresponding and specific siting criteria. This was particularly evident for rationale statements concerning social and cultural ecosystem services, seemingly because certain benefits, especially those related to stormwater management, are prioritized over other green infrastructure services. While multiple benefits remain a dominant rationale for green infrastructure in the cities analyzed, including stormwater management, social cohesion, and biodiversity benefits, siting criteria were dominated by stormwater management, available locations, and other logistical considerations. These findings indicate a large-scale misalignment between the multifunctional ideal of urban green infrastructure and the procedures used to implement green infrastructure programs. We conclude with a discussion of how siting criteria and processes can be elaborated to deliver the desired benefits of green infrastructure.
KW - Ecosystem services
KW - Environmental justice
KW - Nature-based solutions
KW - Urban green infrastructure
KW - Urban planning
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U2 - 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2023.104781
DO - 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2023.104781
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85160588512
SN - 0169-2046
VL - 237
JO - Landscape and Urban Planning
JF - Landscape and Urban Planning
M1 - 104781
ER -