Integrated Green Infrastructure
In 2019, Congress enacted the Water Infrastructure Improvement Act, which defines green infrastructure as "the range of measures that use plant or soil systems, permeable pavement or other permeable surfaces or substrates, stormwater harvest and reuse, or landscaping to store, infiltrate, or evapotranspirate stormwater and reduce flows to sewer systems or to surface waters."
Some organizations have started using broader definitions with green infrastructure being any nature-based infrastructure (with infrastructure being defined as the basic physical and organizational structures and facilities needed for the operation of a society or enterprise). Some go even broader still with non-nature-based technologies like solar photovoltaics being included as well.
Organizing model around watersheds: Based on best practice investigation, we adopted the Emerald Necklace model as a concept and a roadmap for practical solutions. As a concept, it provides solutions that harmonize human presence within natural systems including water, air, land, plants, and animals. As a practical solution, it involves synergistically connecting locations that have green resilient features.
Participant Expertise and Characteristics: Ecology and ecological restoration, climatology, horticulture and arboriculture, fire prevention, individual and community engagement, climate justice, water management and conservation, carbon sequestration, collaboration, and knowledge transfer techniques, permeable surfacing, land use planning, landscape architecture; urban forest planning and management. Characteristics include:
o Respect for evidence-based scientific knowledge and methods
o State-of-the-art expertise
o Systems view; ability to create holistic, integrated solutions
o Demonstrated leadership in successfully implementing major change
o Ability to create multi-disciplinary solutions
o Thought leadership
o Sprit of collegiality and intellectual curiosity
Some organizations have started using broader definitions with green infrastructure being any nature-based infrastructure (with infrastructure being defined as the basic physical and organizational structures and facilities needed for the operation of a society or enterprise). Some go even broader still with non-nature-based technologies like solar photovoltaics being included as well.
Organizing model around watersheds: Based on best practice investigation, we adopted the Emerald Necklace model as a concept and a roadmap for practical solutions. As a concept, it provides solutions that harmonize human presence within natural systems including water, air, land, plants, and animals. As a practical solution, it involves synergistically connecting locations that have green resilient features.
Participant Expertise and Characteristics: Ecology and ecological restoration, climatology, horticulture and arboriculture, fire prevention, individual and community engagement, climate justice, water management and conservation, carbon sequestration, collaboration, and knowledge transfer techniques, permeable surfacing, land use planning, landscape architecture; urban forest planning and management. Characteristics include:
o Respect for evidence-based scientific knowledge and methods
o State-of-the-art expertise
o Systems view; ability to create holistic, integrated solutions
o Demonstrated leadership in successfully implementing major change
o Ability to create multi-disciplinary solutions
o Thought leadership
o Sprit of collegiality and intellectual curiosity
nature-based improvements
To us, ‘Green infrastructure’ means nature-based infrastructure, or infrastructure that actively helps nature, including plants and animals, surfaces, energy-efficient devices, upcycling of waste, diversions to reduce runoff and erosion, healthy soils, fire prevention modifications, and using state-of-the-art methods in mapping, eco-benefit calculation, and cost-benefit analysis.
Our preferred form of green infrastructure is Integrated, not siloed--meaning an entire solution set purposely tailored for each location and using a vision that connects those locations to create synergy. Integration builds co-benefits. For example, reducing wildfires by using the right types of plants, removing plants that are out of place, and hardening physical structures against fire not only improves human and property safety, but it also promotes better air quality, and protects the land from increasingly damaging floods, while also providing benefits to human physical and mental health.
Integrated green infrastructure also directly incorporates human presence and social systems, recognizing that communities live within natural systems. One by-product of green infrastructure is growth in green businesses and green jobs, thus feeding economic prosperity. It would enhance the “Build Back Better” approaches being taken to economic recovery. For our region to be sustainable (and have even a chance of being resilient and regenerative), its social and natural systems must co-exist in balance, therefore also requiring community involvement and environmental justice.
Many best practice examples of successful application of integrated green infrastructure exist in California and around the United States. Two of these are:
Our preferred form of green infrastructure is Integrated, not siloed--meaning an entire solution set purposely tailored for each location and using a vision that connects those locations to create synergy. Integration builds co-benefits. For example, reducing wildfires by using the right types of plants, removing plants that are out of place, and hardening physical structures against fire not only improves human and property safety, but it also promotes better air quality, and protects the land from increasingly damaging floods, while also providing benefits to human physical and mental health.
Integrated green infrastructure also directly incorporates human presence and social systems, recognizing that communities live within natural systems. One by-product of green infrastructure is growth in green businesses and green jobs, thus feeding economic prosperity. It would enhance the “Build Back Better” approaches being taken to economic recovery. For our region to be sustainable (and have even a chance of being resilient and regenerative), its social and natural systems must co-exist in balance, therefore also requiring community involvement and environmental justice.
Many best practice examples of successful application of integrated green infrastructure exist in California and around the United States. Two of these are:
Urban green infrastructure falls in three types:
(1) Living things
(2) Other natural elements such as water, air, soil
(3) Man-made infrastructure to support these elements. Examples include:
o Vegetation – Plant trees and other vegetation, using appropriate species in locations to reduce runoff, erosion, greenhouse gas (GHG) and heat, while ensuring proper maintenance and biodiversity.
o Animals – Re-balance appropriate species for the location, ranging from insects to fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
o Surfaces – Remove unneeded impervious surfaces and replace needed impervious surfaces with permeable materials where feasible, such as for parking lots, driveways, and sidewalks. Improve soil quality as needed, including nutrients, moisture, and compaction levels. Coat existing surfaces with materials that reflect heat rather than absorb it.
o Diversions – Install appropriate features such as bioswales, berms, and other devices that allow water to infiltrate in place, reducing erosion, increasing soil moisture, and replenishing water tables.
o Fire prevention techniques – Remove fire-prone vegetation from high-risk areas; add fire-resistant plants as needed.
o Maps and eco-benefit calculations – Using GIS and other aerial sensors, map trees and plants, heat islands, impervious surfaces, and other elements to identify locations for improvement or existing green infrastructure elements. Apply contemporary computational techniques to these data and existing data to calculate and track human and environmental benefits.
o Waste reduction - Conserve natural resources such as water, oxygen, energy. Examples include state-of-the-art irrigation, renewable energy devices powered by the sun, wind.
o Waste repurposing - Divert both green and gray waste from our waterways and landfills and re-use It as effectively as possible.
o Energy efficiency – Install or replace items such as lighting that create safe and usable spaces while using minimal energy.
(2) Other natural elements such as water, air, soil
(3) Man-made infrastructure to support these elements. Examples include:
o Vegetation – Plant trees and other vegetation, using appropriate species in locations to reduce runoff, erosion, greenhouse gas (GHG) and heat, while ensuring proper maintenance and biodiversity.
o Animals – Re-balance appropriate species for the location, ranging from insects to fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
o Surfaces – Remove unneeded impervious surfaces and replace needed impervious surfaces with permeable materials where feasible, such as for parking lots, driveways, and sidewalks. Improve soil quality as needed, including nutrients, moisture, and compaction levels. Coat existing surfaces with materials that reflect heat rather than absorb it.
o Diversions – Install appropriate features such as bioswales, berms, and other devices that allow water to infiltrate in place, reducing erosion, increasing soil moisture, and replenishing water tables.
o Fire prevention techniques – Remove fire-prone vegetation from high-risk areas; add fire-resistant plants as needed.
o Maps and eco-benefit calculations – Using GIS and other aerial sensors, map trees and plants, heat islands, impervious surfaces, and other elements to identify locations for improvement or existing green infrastructure elements. Apply contemporary computational techniques to these data and existing data to calculate and track human and environmental benefits.
o Waste reduction - Conserve natural resources such as water, oxygen, energy. Examples include state-of-the-art irrigation, renewable energy devices powered by the sun, wind.
o Waste repurposing - Divert both green and gray waste from our waterways and landfills and re-use It as effectively as possible.
o Energy efficiency – Install or replace items such as lighting that create safe and usable spaces while using minimal energy.
Organizing model around watersheds:
Based on best practice investigation, we adopted the Emerald Necklace model as a concept and a roadmap for practical solutions. As a concept, it provides solutions that harmonize human presence within natural systems including water, air, land, plants, and animals. As a practical solution, it involves synergistically connecting locations that have green resilient features.
Participant Expertise and Characteristics:
Ecology and ecological restoration, climatology, horticulture and arboriculture, fire prevention, individual and community engagement, climate justice, water management and conservation, carbon sequestration, collaboration, and knowledge transfer techniques, permeable surfacing, land use planning, landscape architecture; urban forest planning and management.
Characteristics include:
- Respect for evidence-based scientific knowledge and methods
- State-of-the-art expertise
- Systems view; ability to create holistic, integrated solutions
- Demonstrated leadership in successfully implementing major change
- Ability to create multi-disciplinary solutions
- Thought leadership
- Sprit of collegiality and intellectual curiosity