Green Infrastructure

Multiple Benefits for Urban Waters Communities

A garden with sidewalks and several beds with different plants

In their natural state, river systems support important processes like infiltration, sediment transport and deposition, and flooding. Rivers also host unique environments, like tributaries, wetlands, riparian banks, and floodplains. These are lands that are fertile and dynamic. These processes and environments have drawn humans to the banks of rivers. They also provide mechanisms for transport and trade and water for industrial processes.

The modern built urban landscape impedes the natural processes and changes the environments. Often, they are eliminated altogether. As a result,  urban hydrology  is complex and changing.  Water flow paths, pollutant discharges, and flood impacts are more difficult to project on an ongoing basis. Urban areas are subject to the impacts of increased flood peaks, stormwater run-off, water quality issues, and increased heat.  Climate change  and  historical inequities  compound all these. 

There is seldom a single solution for these multiple issues that urban communities face. Green infrastructure comes pretty close, especially when planned, designed, and implemented equitably.

a graph showing Urban  Waters Learning Network Survey results about the scale of green infrastructure being implemented in their work. Neighborhood scale is the most widely used followed by parcel, subbasin, municipal and watershed.

Results of a 2023 Urban Waters Learning Network survey show that network members are implementing green infrastructure solutions on multiple scales.

A recent poll (June-Sept 2023) of the  Urban Waters Learning Network  shows that members are implementing green infrastructure on different scales. The multiple benefits for communities include include community engagement and education, workforce development programs, access to green space, replenishing water resources, and ecosystem preservation. 

With many names and applications, the reasons to employ green infrastructure practices are as varied as the communities that use them.

Baseline of Understanding: What is Green Infrastructure?

As outlined in several studies ( Grabowski, et al., 2022  and  Matsler, et al., 2021 ), it is important to define the meaning of green infrastructure for any given project. It is also important to include other similar terms to make information sharing more accessible for related work. The type of green infrastructure employed depends on who is designing it (i.e. an ecologist vs. and urban planner). There are also differences depending on the primary outcome (i.e. creating greenspace to reduce heat, restoring ecosystems, or mitigating stormwater). 

Ecology-related green infrastructure includes plants and other natural elements (left). Green Stormwater Infrastructure may or may not incorporate greenery, like collecting rainwater in rain barrels (right). Employed on different scales, each creates varied benefits.

Matsler, et al. (2021) found from a review of academic and gray literature that ecology-related green infrastructure—like parks, greenways, and urban forests—uses different terms than green stormwater infrastructure. Ecology-related green infrastructure includes plants and other natural elements. Green Stormwater Infrastructure may or may not incorporate greenery (i.e permeable pavement). Findings are summarized in the table below.

Different terms for green infrastructure are commonly used. Click on the links above to learn more about each.

Urban Waters Learning Network Case Studies

The UWLN is a peer-to-peer network of urban waters practitioners. Expand and explore the searchable map to learn more.

Members of the Urban Waters Learning Network (UWLN) are working on green infrastructure to address different environmental issues. Case study examples highlighted here come from Providence, RI; New Orleans, LA, and Tucson, AZ.

From flooding to drought as well as high heat, organizations in these urban centers are designing green infrastructure solutions to meet community needs.

From reducing flooding and water quality issues to mitigating drought, green infrastructure provides tools that help to restore and replenish the natural environment. And, they are more sustainable when integrating equity and justice from the very beginning. As seen in the case study examples, members of the UWLN are working with communities to combine environmental solutions with multiple benefits like creating jobs in their neighborhoods and providing educational and advocacy tools. It’s clear that green infrastructure and nature-based solutions are gaining prominence because of the multiple benefits that they provide.

Resources

There are now more opportunities available to fund the work. Resources to support this work can be found below.

Results of a 2023 Urban Waters Learning Network survey show that network members are implementing green infrastructure solutions on multiple scales.