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What is Green Infrastructure?
Green infrastructure is the interconnected network of waterways, wetlands, woodlands, wildlife habitats, and other natural areas; greenways, parks, and other conservation lands; working farms, ranches and forests; and wilderness and other open spaces that support native species, maintain natural ecological processes, sustain air and water resources and contribute to health and quality of life (McDonald, Benedict, and O’Conner, 2005).
What is Green Infrastructure Planning?
Green infrastructure planning is a process for inventorying and mapping natural assets and devising strategies for protecting them. It seeks to guide development to more appropriate locations by identifying areas that should be protected before development begins. For example, a green infrastructure plan might identify areas to be set aside for ground water recharge or species protection, while also identifying areas for locating buildings or other human uses that are less sensitive to development impacts. Most importantly, green infrastructure plans create linkages so that animals and people can move across the landscape.
In short, green infrastructure planning entails:
- Inventorying green assets and connections,
- Identifying opportunities for their protection and/or restoration, and
- Developing a coordinated strategy to channel development and re-development to the most appropriate locations.
Green infrastructure planning efforts are underway across the United States and in other countries. In Virginia, for example, the Department of Conservation and Recreation has undertaken an extensive mapping effort to identify intact habitat areas and the natural corridors that connect them. In other parts of the country, local governments and regional planning organizations are taking the lead. Localities are essential partners in green infrastructure planning projects; they develop and update the comprehensive plans, zoning ordinances, and other planning tools that guide the management of the majority of the land area in the United States. Private landowners and developers are also critical partners in protecting green assets, since most land in the United States is under private ownership.
There are also efforts to link habitats across jurisdictional boundaries such as the “Two Countries One Forest Project” that spans two countries, five states, and four provinces between the northeastern U.S. and southeastern Canada, as well as efforts that connect the Sonoran Desert in the southwestern United States with neighboring areas of Mexico (see resources page for more information). These efforts are occurring on other continents as well. For example, transfrontier conservation areas link habitat zones across countries in Africa. The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park connects four million hectares across Mozambique and South Africa. These large-scale conservation areas are very important to species such as elephants, which need large areas for migration and food supply.
The resources page provides additional information about ongoing green infrastructure planning projects across the country and around the world.
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Why a Center?
The Green Infrastructure Center Inc. was formed in 2006 to help local governments, communities, and regional planning organizations, as well as private-sector organizations such as land trusts, to include the services provided by natural systems and ecological processes as the basis for planning.
Green asset protection requires a merging of the fields of ecology, economics, planning, landscape architecture, law, and sociology in order to develop strategies for protecting ecological and cultural resources that are effective and marketable to decision makers while also being embraced by local communities. The center seeks to make environmentally-sensitive decision-making and planning the norm by providing the economic rationale and practical methods and tools that can enable people and communities to adopt green practices.
Green infrastructure planning recognizes that while all planning efforts take place within existing legal, political and regulatory frameworks, these frameworks do not usually begin by taking into account the services provided by natural systems and ecological processes. Services such as air quality benefits or stormwater and flood abatement provided by forests are not often considered when the benefits of land conservation or the costs of development are calculated. For example, a forest can uptake pollutants from urban runoff while also absorbing excess stormwater. A forest performs this work far more cheaply than an engineered stormwater pond and also provides a host of other services needed by both humans and wildlife.
Green infrastructure planning provides an opportunity for communities to approach land use planning in a new way. By considering and inventorying environmental functions and values before development begins, land can be designated appropriately for protection and/or restoration to provide wildlife habitat, recreation, stormwater treatment, energy savings, aesthetic values, improved community health, and sustainable economies. Land planning that begins within the context of local ecological systems can ensure that development is channeled to the most appropriate areas, thereby protecting environmental functions while also saving money and energy. In already developed areas, green assets can be reconnected. Even at environmentally impaired sites where some contamination has occurred, natural systems and habitats can be restored.
The identification and economic assessment of a community’s natural assets is an important part of green infrastructure planning efforts. Placing a dollar value on the stormwater mitigation or water filtration services provided by a natural system can help localities make more informed decisions about whether particular land areas are best suited for new development or should be set aside for a greenway or acquired for a wildlife refuge or for ground water recharge. By demonstrating that lands adjacent to greenways are more valuable or that land preserved saves money over land developed, localities can build their case for protecting green assets and convince others to do so too. A 2001 study by the National Association of Realtors – “On Common Ground: Realtors and Smart Growth,” – showed that 57 percent of voters are more likely to purchase a home near to green space and 50 percent are willing to pay 10 percent more for their home. Values such as improved air quality, stormwater reduction and infiltration, temperature mitigation, and community health can be quantified and incorporated into local land-planning decisions and also can motivate private sector developers to go beyond the minimum.
The Green Infrastructure Center was formed to provide the suite of tools – economic analysis, mapping, and land use planning and asset assessment – needed by communities to protect and restore their natural assets. The Center provides planning assistance, conducts research, publishes guidance, and conducts educational and restoration activities for communities.
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Primary Goals and Objectives (2006-2010)
Goal A: Make the economic case for green asset planning.
Objective A1: Develop new methodologies for green asset valuation via a coordinated research program and field testing of methods and practices.
Objective A2: Make studies more accessible by developing a database of studies and provide a critique of these studies to allow users to understand their validity and applications.
Goal B: Develop new methods and tools for green infrastructure planning and implementation.
Objective B2: Develop ‘best practices’ guidance based on research that establishes standards for green infrastructure planning and publish and widely distribute findings.
Objective B2: Develop a focus and methodology for ‘re-greening’ – restoring degraded habitats to the green inventory through habitat restoration and reclaiming contaminated sites.
Objective B3: Develop and promote new programs to foster green asset protection, such as urban conservation easements.
Goal C: Provide communities with technical assistance for green infrastructure planning.
Objective C1: Assist communities in developing green infrastructure plans for low or no cost via a grant-subsidized program to demonstrate planning methods.
Objective C2: Provide tools, such as method guides and handbooks, to help communities do their own green infrastructure planning.
Goal D: Expand the use of green infrastructure planning by promoting awareness and understanding of the purpose and methods.
Objective D1: Educate the public and colleagues about green infrastructure planning via brochures, articles, press releases and workshops.
Objective D2: Hold conferences and workshops such as a national green infrastructure conference and offer sessions at trail, land trust, and planning organization meetings.
Objective D3: Engender local innovations in green infrastructure planning through a green awards program.
To comment on the above goals or to suggest new ideas, please contact the center at info@gicinc.org.
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