top of page

Get Ready, Get SETS: GI!

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Social, Ecological, and Technological Dimensions of Green Infrastructure
from an Early Career Perspective

Click here to view in a Google document.

The politics of green transformations. (2015). In Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

COMING SOON!

 

Ahern, J. (2011). From fail-safe to safe-to-fail: Sustainability and resilience in the new urban world. Landscape and Urban Planning, 100(4): 341–343. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2011.02.021

Urban resilience is largely undefined; however, design methodologies surrounding resilience are evolving from fail-safe to safe-to-fail. Five design principles for enhancing urban resilience capacity are proposed: multifunctionality, diversity, multi-scale networks and connectivity, and adaptive planning and design. Moving forward, urban resilience must be analyzed through an interdisciplinary lens. 

Keywords: SETS; Sustainability & Resilience; Planning & Design

 

Ahern, J. (2013). Urban landscape sustainability and resilience: The promise and challenges of integrating ecology with urban planning and design. Landscape Ecology, 28(6): 1203–1212. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-012-9799-z

Landscape ecology has helped shape urban ecology; however, landscape ecologists are not often integrated in the design process. Five strategies are proposed to increase collaboration, and resilience, in urban design; these include biodiversity, urban ecological networks and connectivity, multifunctionality, redundancy and modularization, adaptive design. 

Keywords: Sustainability & Resilience; Planning & Design

 

Al-Kodmany, K. (2001). BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN TECHNICAL AND LOCAL KNOWLEDGE: TOOLS FOR PROMOTING COMMUNITY-BASED PLANNING AND DESIGN. Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, 18(2), 110–130.

COMING SOON!

 

Allison, Josie R. “Greening Inequality: How Urban Sustainable Development Fails Under Neoliberalism.” Honors, Portland State University, 2020. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2157&context=honorstheses.

‘Sustainability’ has been co-opted by capitalism, and particularly the neoliberal economics that arose in the 1970s, into a clever type of branding known as ‘greenwashing’ as companies and municipalities alike are forced to compete against one another for privately-held funds. The result is a transfer of wealth and power to private companies that operate with the objective of generating profits rather than meeting social needs. Portland is used as a case study of a city that has embraced a ‘sustainable’ brand, yet its environmental amenities are not equitably distributed across economic and social spectra.

Keywords: Social Justice; Governance

 

Alves, A., Gersonius, B., Sanchez, A., Vojinovic, Z., & Kapelan, Z. (2018). Multi-criteria Approach for Selection of Green and Grey Infrastructure to Reduce Flood Risk and Increase CO-benefits. Water Resources Management, 32(7), 2505–2522. https://doi.org/10/gdgn38

Selection criteria for stormwater infrastructure have evolved from primarily economic efficiency to incorporating elements of social and ecological sustainability. The new method proposed in this paper adapts the decision-making process to local conditions and preferences with user-defined weighting factors. This method differs from most prior selection guides and tools by including grey, green, and mixed infrastructure types. It also considers different types of floods beyond exclusively pluvial floods. The paper also describes how the decision-making process has been applied to three case studies, in Spain and Thailand.

Keywords: Planning & Design

 

Andráško, I. (2021). Why People (Do Not) Adopt the Private Precautionary and Mitigation Measures: A Review of the Issue from the Perspective of Recent Flood Risk Research. Water, 13(2): 140. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13020140.

The author completed a semi-structured literature review to identify major, emergent themes in flood risk management, including responsibility, risk perception, people and social environment, geography of risk, emotions, and theories and conceptual models, as they primarily relate to the adoption (or lack thereof) of preventative and reactive stormwater controls by private agents. 

Keywords: Governance

 

Angermeier, Paul L., Leigh Anne Krometis, Marc J. Stern, and Tyler L. Hemby. “Exploring Relationships among Stream Health, Human Well-Being, and Demographics in Virginia, USA.” Ecological Indicators 121 (February 1, 2021): 107194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.107194.

This statistical analysis of public data for Virginia (USA) found a strong correlation between stream health, measured as Virginia Stream Condition Index (VSCI), and the percentage of white-identifying residents in the surrounding county. Additional correlations were found between stream health indicators and social indicators such as mortality and rates of violent crime.

Keywords: Social Justice; Human Health

 

Angheloiu, C., & Tennant, M. (2020). Urban futures: Systemic or system changing interventions? A literature review using Meadows’ leverage points as analytical framework. Cities, 104, 102808. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2020.102808

Literature review of the current concepts widely used in the context of urban redevelopment: urban resilience, transition, transformation, and sustainability. Using Meadows Leverage Points, authors identified the most commonly discussed interventions.

Keywords: SETS; Governance; Sustainability & Resilience

 

Anguelovski, I. (2016). Healthy Food Stores, Greenlining and Food Gentrification: Contesting New Forms of Privilege, Displacement and Locally Unwanted Land Uses in Racially Mixed Neighborhoods. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 39(6), 1209–1230. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.12299

The process of environmental gentrification through ‘supermarket greenlining’ is discussed on the case study of Whole Foods supermarket in the Latinx neighbourhood in Boston, MA. Healthy food stores coming in place of culture specific food options become both an act and the outcome of gentrification resulting in exclusion and displacement of low-income residents. In this way ‘food deserts’ with lack of fresh food options are getting transformed into ‘food mirages’ with the abundance of options, however, unaffordable to the marginalized communities.

Keywords: Social Justice; Governance; Sustainability & Resilience


Anguelovski, I., Connolly, J. J. T., Pearsall, H., Shokry, G., Checker, M., Maantay, J., Gould, K., Lewis, T., Maroko, A., & Roberts, J. T. (2019). Why green “climate gentrification” threatens poor and vulnerable populations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 116(52), 26139–26143. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1920490117

COMING SOON!

 

Anguelovski, Isabelle, Linda Shi, Eric Chu, Daniel Gallagher, Kian Goh, Zachary Lamb, Kara Reeve, and Hannah Teicher. “Equity Impacts of Urban Land Use Planning for Climate Adaptation: Critical Perspectives from the Global North and South.” Journal of Planning Education and Research 36, no. 3 (September 1, 2016): 333–48. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X16645166.

Municipal climate adaptation plans, including but not limited to GI, often generate or exacerbate  inequity for socio-economically vulnerable urban communities. Based on analysis from eight cities across the globe, this study analyzes and characterizes inequities in climate adaptation planning. They find that inequities in climate adaptation are widespread, are embedded in both process and outcomes of planning, and arise from prioritization of wealthier communities (at the expense of poorer ones) and from failure to explicitly consider current and/or historic inequities in planning. 

Keywords: Sustainability & Resilience

 

Anguelovski, Isabelle, Linda Shi, Eric Chu, Daniel Gallagher, Kian Goh, Zachary Lamb, Kara Reeve, and Hannah Teicher. “Towards Critical Studies of Climate Adaptation Planning: Uncovering the Equity Impacts of Urban Land Use Planning,” 2016. https://doi.org/10.17169/refubium-22234.

Emphasis on win-win solutions for climate adaptation can obscure uneven distribution of benefits and disbenefits of these interventions leading to adaptation injustices. This paper critically assesses the impact of climate adaptation approaches on socio-spatial inequalities in eight cities across the Global North and South. Authors find that climate adaptation strategies can become aligned with development interests or focus on implementation of technocratic solutions and ignore inequalities leading to ‘acts of commission’ that negatively impact or displace marginalised groups or ‘acts of omission’ that are blind to the needs of marginalised groups and prioritising the needs of urban elites. 

Keywords: Social Justice

 

Askarizadeh, A., Rippy, M. A., Fletcher, T. D., Feldman, D. L., Peng, J., Bowler, P., Mehring, A. S., Winfrey, B. K., Vrugt, J. A., Aghakouchak, A., Jiang, S. C., Sanders, B. F., Levin, L. A., Taylor, S., & Grant, S. B. (2015). From Rain Tanks to Catchments: Use of Low-Impact Development To Address Hydrologic Symptoms of the Urban Stream Syndrome. Environmental Science and Technology, 49(19): 11264–11280. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b01635

A review and analysis of how to restore pre-development hydrology with low impact development (LID). The authors note that stormwater storage and/or harvesting is required and should play a larger role than infiltration to maintain stream hydrology. The authors recommend the following strategies for urban stream management: 1) tailored mixtures of storage, harvesting, infiltration, and LID solutions, 2) integrating grey and green infrastructure, 3) maximizing co-benefits, and 4) long-term monitoring.

Keywords: Ecosystem Services; Sustainability & Resilience; Planning & Design

Basnou, C., Pino, J., & Terradas, J. (2015). Ecosystem services provided by green infrastructure in the urban environment. In CAB Reviews: Perspectives in Agriculture, Veterinary Science, Nutrition and Natural Resources (Vol. 10). CABI International. https://doi.org/10.1079/PAVSNNR201510004

This literature review reviews the history of study of green infrastructure through and embedded in an urban ecology framework. The paper examines how green infrastructure may be evaluated through an ecosystem services (and disservices) lens and the pros, cons, and challenges of such a framing. 

Keywords: Ecosystem Services; Sustainability & Resilience

 

Basu, Sukanya, and Harini Nagendra. (2021). Perceptions of Park Visitors on Access to Urban Parks and Benefits of Green Spaces. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2020.126959.

Accessibility to green spaces varies, driven, in part, by gender and income inequalities. Most park visitors in Hyderabad recognize the recreational value of the spaces, but they do not have access to provisional services. Parks with high entry fees and strict rules were found to limit accessibility to lower incomes households while those able to pay were unaware of the unequal access.

Keywords: Social Justice; Ecosystem Services

 

Bélanger, P. (2020). No Design on Stolen Land: Dismantling Design’s Dehumanising White Supremacy. Architectural Design, 90(1), 120–127. https://doi.org/10.1002/ad.2535

Urbanization cannot be separated from settler-colonialism at its most fundamental levels. The very design of cities and land development in general erases Indigenous history and perpetuates the white-centric status quo that exists today, whether this is a recognized function or not. Cities are designed for white people and leave all others to scrape by in competition with one another, all the while occupying stolen land. It is paradoxical for a society to claim to live by treaties when the very cities it builds and occupies were largely secured by breaking select treaties. The uninhabited wilderness that preceded modern cities is a myth created to justify their existence.

Keywords: Social Justice; Planning & Design

 

Bell, C. D., Spahr, K., Grubert, E., Stokes-Draut, J., Gallo, E., McCray, J. E., & Hogue, T. S. (2019). Decision Making on the Gray-Green Stormwater Infrastructure Continuum. Journal of Sustainable Water in the Built Environment, 5(1), 04018016. https://doi.org/10.1061/jswbay.0000871

This review paper summarizes various factors of stormwater management infrastructure and categories infrastructure practice types according to form along a gray-green continuum. Additional attributes of each infrastructure practice type are organized in tables and include construction materials, typical sizes, functions, lifecycle costs, greenhouse gas production, and more. Lastly, input from a panel of experts from around the US was used to weight the relative importance of various factors on the stormwater infrastructure decisions.

Keyword: Planning & Design

 

Berg, Hanne J. van den, and Jesse M. Keenan. “Dynamic Vulnerability in the Pursuit of Just Adaptation Processes: A Boston Case Study.” Environmental Science & Policy 94 (April 1, 2019): 90–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2018.12.015.

This paper argues improvements should be made to climate adaptation planning to ensure that processes that involve participatory engagement are not only distributive, but also procedurally just. To achieve these aims climate adaptation planning processes should evolve to include capacity to dynamically assess how the vulnerability of individuals or communities evolves over time. Differences between outcome (i.e. the end point of a sequence of adaptation processes) and contextual (i.e. inability to cope with external pressures or changes) vulnerability should also be accounted for.  Secondly, participatory engagement should be more collaborative and inclusive of community actors providing opportunities to acknowledge, engage with and provide representation to vulnerable groups since engagement with these groups is often peripheral. 

Key words: Social Justice; Governance

 

Berland, Adam, Dexter H. Locke, Dustin L. Herrmann, and Kirsten Schwarz. “Beauty or Blight? Abundant Vegetation in the Presence of Disinvestment Across Residential Parcels and Neighborhoods in Toledo, OH.” Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 8 (2020). https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.566759.

Using satellite data manuscript explored relationships between vegetation cover and parcel occupancy in Toledo, OH. Results showed that vegetation abundance was high at both low- and high- vacancy block groups indicating that vegetation can be both an amenity and disamenity depending on the vegetation quality and maintenance.

Keywords: Social Justice; Ecosystem Services

 

Brand, A. L., & Miller, C. (n.d.). Tomorrow I’ll Be at the Table: Black Geographies and Urban Planning: A Review of the Literature. https://doi.org/10.1177/0885412220928575

COMING SOON!

 

Broto, Vanesa Castán, and Enora Robin. “Climate Urbanism as Critical Urban Theory.” Urban Geography 0, no. 0 (November 17, 2020): 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2020.1850617.

COMING SOON!

 

Brown, G., & Fagerholm, N. (2015). Empirical PPGIS/PGIS mapping of ecosystem services: A review and evaluation. Ecosystem Services, 13, 119–133. https://doi.org/10/ggscdb

COMING SOON!

Bhavnani, K.-K., Foran, J., Kurian, P. A., & Munshi, D. (Eds.). (2019). Climate Futures: Re-imagining Global Climate Justice - ASLE. https://www.asle.org/stay-informed/member-bookshelf/climate-futures-re-imagining-global-climate-justice/

An exploration of climate change and social justice through multiple lenses such as of culture, gender, and race, within the context of colonial history and capitalism. The book offers multidisciplinary reflections on future development pathways that acknowledge interconnectedness of the human-nature domains. 

Keywords: Social Justice; Governance; Sustainability & Resilience

Brown, J.A., Larson, K.L., Lerman, S.B., Childers, D.L., Andrade, R., Bateman, H.L., Hall, S.J., Warren, P.S., and York, A.M. (2020). Influences of Environmental and Social Factors on Perceived Bio-Cultural Services and Disservices. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.569730.

Urban ecological infrastructure varies significantly as do the services and disservices the spaces provide. To identify perceived bio-cultural services and disservices, the authors surveyed community members throughout the Phoenix metropolitan area. They found that identity, neighborhood cohesion, income, and environmental factors influenced perceptions.

Keywords: Ecosystem Services

 

Brown, S. C., Perrino, T., Lombard, J., Wang, K., Toro, M., Rundek, T., Gutierrez, C. M., Dong, C., Plater-Zyberk, E., Nardi, M. I., Kardys, J., & Szapocznik, J. (2018). Health disparities in the relationship of neighborhood greenness to mental health outcomes in 249,405 U.S. medicare beneficiaries. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(3), 430. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15030430

Study examines the occurrence of Alzheimer’s disease and depression in individuals 65 and older in Miami-Dade County, Florida in relation to greenness (presence of vegetation). Individuals living in green blocks were less likely to experience the diseases, particularly if they were from a low-income neighborhood. Greenness may reduce health risks due to opportunities for exercise, social interaction, and stress relief.

Keywords: Human Health

 

Buck, H. J., Martin, L. J., Geden, O., Kareiva, P., Koslov, L., Krantz, W., Kravitz, B., Noël, J., Parson, E. A., Preston, C. J., Sanchez, D. L., Scarlett, L., & Talati, S. (2020). Evaluating the efficacy and equity of environmental stopgap measures. Nature Sustainability, 3(7), 499–504. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-0497-6

A perspective piece that defines environmental “stop gap” measures as temporary, imperfect solutions to “buy time” to address a pressing socio-ecological issue. Stop gap measures are contrasted to similar concepts such as adaptive management, environmental fixes, and transition management. The authors provide an eight-point framework for evaluating stop gap measures, which are increasingly prevalent in environmental policy. Three cases are analyzed, and the framework is applied to evaluating a proposed technology for mitigating climate change: solar geoengineering.

Keywords: Social Justice; Governance, Sustainability & Resilience

Buck, Kyle D., J. Kevin Summers, and Lisa M. Smith. “Investigating the Relationship between Environmental Quality, Socio-Spatial Segregation and the Social Dimension of Sustainability in US Urban Areas.” Sustainable Cities and Society, January 23, 2021, 102732. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2021.102732.

COMING SOON!

Bulkeley, Harriet. “Climate Changed Urban Futures: Environmental Politics in the Anthropocene City.” Environmental Politics 0, no. 0 (February 1, 2021): 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2021.1880713.

A reflection on changes in climate politics in the last 30 years. Cities became leaders in climate governance embedding ecosystem services and social justice in climate action.Urban experimentation is becoming a new form of governance. However, whether these actions are truly transformative and inclusive is still a question, as actors who can afford changes are also the ones to rip benefits.

Keywords: Social Justice; Governance; Sustainability & Resilience

 

Chen, Yuanyuan, Xinli Ke, Min Min, and Peng Cheng. (2020). Disparity in Perceptions of Social Values for Ecosystem Services of Urban Green Space: A Case Study in the East Lake Scenic Area, Wuhan. Frontiers in Public Health, 8:370. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.00370.

This study explores the differences in perceptions of green spaces between residents and tourists in Wuhan, China. The results showed that residents value the recreational and economical benefits of green spaces, while tourists appreciated the cultural values and beautification. Residents prioritized distance from water as a primary driver of aesthetics while tourists identified distance from water and land cover as drivers.

Keywords: Ecosystem Services

 

Cheng, C. (2020). Climate justicescape and implications for urban resilience in American cities. In The Routledge Handbook of Urban Resilience.

Climate justicescape, the spatial patterns of climate justice, were evaluated against the social-ecological-technological framework to understand the applicability to urban resilience planning. Cheng found that climate justicescape could be useful for identifying disparities in between urban and rural communities, calculated and perceived risks; accountability for climate justice, and recognition of green infrastructure for adaptive capacity.

Keywords: SETS; Social Justice; Sustainability & Resilience

 

Childers, D. L., Bois, P., Hartnett, H. E., McPhearson, T., Metson, G. S., & Sanchez, C. A. (2019). Urban ecological infrastructure: An inclusive concept for the non-built urban environment. In Elementa (Vol. 7, Issue 1). University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.385

Many terms exist to describe ‘nature in cities.’ This paper reviews existing terminology around the world and proposes the use of a more inclusive term, ‘urban ecological infrastructure (UEI),’ defined as “all parts of a city that include ecological structures and functions.” UEI is promoted as a tool to increase urban resilience. 

Keywords: SETS; Ecosystem Services; Sustainability & Resilience

 

Chini, C. M., Canning, J. F., Schreiber, K. L., Peschel, J. M., & Stillwell, A. S. (2017). The green experiment: Cities, green stormwater infrastructure, and sustainability. Sustainability (Switzerland), 9(1). https://doi.org/10.3390/su9010105

Recognizing green infrastructure as a multidimensional system, the authors create a framework for evaluating green infrastructure plans across policy creation, implementation and maintenance, evaluation, and learning for six criteria: 1) problem oriented, 2) flexible and adaptive, 3) definite system boundaries, 4) social learning, 5) reiterative, and 6) development of researcher-practitioner relationships. The framework is applied to green infrastructure plans across 27 U.S. cities, which leads the authors to suggest “community involvement and communication, evaluation based on project motivation, and an iterative process for knowledge production” within green infrastructure plans.

Keywords: SETS; Sustainability & Resilience

 

Choudry, A., Hanley, J., & Shragge, E. (Eds.). (2012). Organize! Building from the Local for Global Justice. PM Press/Between the Lines. https://www.pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_detail&p=422

A collection of multidisciplinary perspectives on organizing strategies written through the lens of social justice. 

Keywords: Social Justice; Governance

Clary, J., Jones, J., Leisenring, M., Hobson, P., & Strecker, E. (2017). Final Report | International Stormwater BMP Database 2016 SUMMARY STATISTICS. www.werf.org

COMING SOON!

Cole, H. V. S., Triguero-Mas, M., Connolly, J. J. T., & Anguelovski, I. (2019). Determining the health benefits of green space: Does gentrification matter? Health and Place, 57, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2019.02.001

The relationship between the active green space and self-reported health is investigated in the neighborhoods with various gentrification status in NYC. Active green space was associated with lower chance of reporting poor health in gentrifying neighborhoods but had no effect in wealthy and non-gentrifying areas. In gentrifying neighborhoods, only people with a college degree and higher income benefited from green space. Thus, gentrification does not benefit socio-economically vulnerable populations and racial minorities.

Keywords: Social Justice; Ecosystem Services; Human Health

 

Colla, S. R., Willis, E., & Packer, L. (2009). Can green roofs provide habitat for urban bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae)? Cities and the Environment, 2(1).

COMING SOON!

 

Cooper, C., Bracken, P. L., & Cunningham, N. (2020). Exploring the relationships between social, economic and health factors and Nature-based Solutions in European cities. 730243.

This report offers a literature review of GI through a nature-based solutions (NBS) framework and initial analysis of intersections between NBS and socio-economic and health indicators in European cities. They show acceleration in the implementation of NBS since 2005 and compare the spatial scale, funding, governance, and beneficiaries of NBS among regions in Europe. Socio-economic and health indicators show substantial variation among European cities, and are not correlated with the number of NBS.

Keywords: SETS; Governance; Ecosystem Services; Human Health; Sustainability & Resilience

 

Costanza-Cook, S. (2020). Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need. The MIT Press. https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/design-justice

Relationships between design and social justice are explored using “design justice” approach. Furthermore, the book presents case-studies of community-led design practices connected to social movements. 

Keywords: SETS; Social Justice; Sustainability & Resilience; Planning & Design

Coulthard, G. S. (2014). Red Skin, White Masks Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition. University of Minnesota Press.

The effectiveness of “recognition” for successful decolonization is challenged. Author examines alternative pathways of reestablishing indigenous practices through the process of self-recognition

Keywords: Social Justice; Governance

 

Cousins, J. J. (2021). Justice in nature-based solutions: Research and pathways. Ecological Economics, 180, 106874. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2020.106874

COMING SOON!

Coyne, Taylor, Maria de Lourdes Melo Zurita, David Reid, and Veljko Prodanovic. “Culturally Inclusive Water Urban Design: A Critical History of Hydrosocial Infrastructures in Southern Sydney, Australia.” Blue-Green Systems, no. bgs2020017 (December 10, 2020). https://doi.org/10.2166/bgs.2020.017.

A hydro-social examination of Sydney, Australia to establish the context in which water-sensitive urban design occurs. Discusses the Georges River in terms of how it was viewed during five historical phases since European colonization: 1) a secluded wilderness, 2) a resource for industry, 3) an uncontrollable threat, 4) a place for recreation, and 5) a part of the democratic social landscape.

Keywords: SETS

Crosson, Courtney, Andrea Achilli, Adriana A. Zuniga-Teran, Elizabeth A. Mack, Tamee Albrecht, Padmendra Shrestha, Dominic L. Boccelli, et al. “Net Zero Urban Water from Concept to Applications: Integrating Natural, Built, and Social Systems for Responsive and Adaptive Solutions.” ACS ES&T Water, December 22, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestwater.0c00180.

The authors describe a framework with progressive water use/management targets that can be used to free an urban system from dependence on outside water sources. The place-based, quantitative approach is integrative of all types of water (“One Water”), with scopes that cut across all SETS dimensions. The paper also discusses short- and long-term drivers of change in urban water balance and how they fit into the net zero urban water framework.

Keywords: SETS; Sustainability & Resilience; Governance

 

Curran, W., & Hamilton, T. (2012). Just green enough: Contesting environmental gentrification in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Local Environment, 17(9), 1027–1042. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2012.729569

Environmental remediation often results in gentrification and displacement. A study of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, explores how “just green enough” strategy can be utilized to clean the Newtown Creek at the same time preserving industrial uses that would continue supporting middle-class residents. 

Keywords: Social Justice; Governance; Ecosystem Services; Human Health; Sustainability & Resilience

 

Daniels, B., Jedamski, J., Ottermanns, R., & Ross-Nickoll, M. (2020). A “plan bee” for cities: Pollinator diversity and plant-pollinator interactions in urban green spaces. PLoS ONE, 15(7 July), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0235492

COMING SOON!

 

Davies, C., & Lafortezza, R. (2017). Urban green infrastructure in Europe: Is greenspace planning and policy compliant? Land Use Policy, 69(August), 93–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.08.018

COMING SOON!

 

Dei, G. J. S. (2012). Indigenous anti-colonial knowledge as ‘heritage knowledge’ for promoting Black/African education in diasporic contexts. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 1(1), 102–119. https://decolonization.org/index.php/des/article/view/18631/15559

Asserts that culture is the center of knowledge production and that, therefore, Indigenous African scholars must create knowledge from the perspectives, values, and practices of their own cultures, languages, and identities rather than those of the Euro-centric academia imposed upon them through colonialism. Discussions of this knowledge must be rooted in community rather than colonial "intellectual" merit. Individuals must own their education, and that education must be just and make room for the individuals it serves in ways that colonial education has not. The term 'colonial' is used to refer to anything that is forced or imposed. In establishing Indigenous anti-colonial knowledge, care must be taken that this knowledge remains anti-colonial rather than becoming  merely the "new colonial."

Keywords: Social Justice

Deloria, V. (1992). Spiritual Management: Prospects for Restoration on Tribal Lands. Ecological Restoration, 10(1), 48–50. https://doi.org/10.3368/er.10.1.48

A reflection on spiritual management as a form of tribal land restoration. Conventional land management practices led to ecological disasters and stripped Native Americans of the right to manage their own lands, perpetuating the poverty cycle. Author advocates that the best way to restore land is to allow tribes to manage it according to their knowledge and beliefs.

Keywords: Social Justice; Governance; Ecosystem Services; Sustainability & Resilience

 

Deloria, V. (1997). Red earth, white lies : Native Americans and the myth of scientific fact. In Fulcrum Pub.

COMING SOON!

 

Descher, Michael, and Sarah Sinasac. “Social-Psychological Determinants of the Implementation of Green Infrastructure for Residential Stormwater Management.” Environmental Management, November 23, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-020-01393-3.

This paper examines attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs that affect residents’ willingness  to implement lot-scale GI. Using the framework of the Theory of Planned Behavior, which models links between controls like beliefs and behaviors to generate strong predictions, the authors show that subjective norms (e.g., how they think neighbors or friends view GI) are strongly related to residents’ willingness to implement GI on their property, together with perceptions about the time and cost required for upkeep. In contrast, residents’ beliefs about GI effectiveness and attractiveness were not related to willingness to implement. 

Keywords: SETS; Social Justice; Governance; Planning & Design

 

Desfiandi, A., Rumawi, R., Setyobudi, A., Sebayang, A., Laisila, M., & Kurochkin, A. V. (2020). Nationalism makes SOEs as economic pillars for social justice. European Journal of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, 7(2), 1282–1295.

The importance of SOE for national development is discussed. It is executed through partnerships with local enterprises and community development programs. Furthermore, authors describe the natural richness of Indonesia, making a claim that it has all the resources for economic prosperity. Authors suggest that SOE should work closer with communities in the form of providing dividends from SOE partnerships. 

Keywords: Social Justice; Governance; Ecosystem Services; Sustainability & Resilience

 

Dewulf, A., Klenk, N., Wyborn, C., & Lemos, M. C. (2020). Usable environmental knowledge from the perspective of decision-making: The logics of consequentiality, appropriateness, and meaningfulness. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 42: 1–6. https://doi.org/10/ghgssj

Knowledge production is reliant on decision-making processes, and so the authors explore three decision-making logics: consequentiality, appropriateness, and meaningfulness. This assessment indicates that diverse perspectives of decision-making can create a fuller understanding of environmental sciences and help with knowledge co-production between researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners. 

Keywords: Governance

 

Donovan, Geoffrey H., Jeffrey P. Prestemon, David T. Butry, Abigail R. Kaminski, and Vicente J. Monleon. “The Politics of Urban Trees: Tree Planting Is Associated with Gentrification in Portland, Oregon.” Forest Policy and Economics 124 (March 1, 2021): 102387. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2020.102387.

COMING SOON!

 

Drakes, Oronde, Eric Tate, Jayton Rainey, and Samuel Brody. “Social Vulnerability and Short-Term Disaster Assistance in the United States.” International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 53 (February 1, 2021): 102010. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.102010.

COMING SOON!

 

Dregallo, David Gore. “It’s Not Easy Being Green: An Examination of Gentrification, Green Gentrification, and Unity Park in Greenville, South Carolina.” B.S., Whitman College, 2020. https://arminda.whitman.edu/islandora/object/arminda%3A65228/datastream/PDF/view.

In this thesis, Dregallo examines a case study in green gentrification (surrounding Unity Park in Greenville, SC) through Environmental Justice, Critical Environmental Justice, and neo-Marxian lenses. Beginning with a thorough review of these theories and their application to urban ecosystems, the thesis moves on to describe an analysis of gentrification resulting from the construction of Unity Park based on data from semi-structured interviews.

Keywords: Social Justice; Governance

Eakin, H., Parajuli, J., Yogya, Y., Hernández, B., and Manheim, M. (2021). Entry Points for Addressing Justice and Politics in Urban Flood Adaptation Decision Making. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 51: 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2021.01.001.

The authors identify six processes by which stormwater managers can engage in dialogue surrounding justice and politics based on recent publications: “1) knowledge co-production in adaptation planning, 2) attention to framing, 3) decisions on spatial scale and scope, 4) considerations of heterogeneous social values, 5) addressing social-political uncertainty, and 6) evaluating participation and implementation capacity.” 

Keywords: Social Justice; Governance

 

Eckart, K., McPhee, Z., & Bolisetti, T. (2017). Performance and implementation of low impact development – A review. In Science of the Total Environment (Vols. 607–608, pp. 413–432). Elsevier B.V. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.06.254

COMING SOON!

 

Hilde Eggermont, Estelle Balian, José Manuel N. Azevedo, Victor Beumer, Tomas Brodin, et al.. (2015). Nature-based Solutions: New Influence for Environmental Management and Research in Europe Nature-based Solutions, an Emerging Term. GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society, oekom verlag, 24 (4), p. 243-248. https://doi.org/10.14512/gaia.24.4.9

The utility of NBS for addressing environmental and societal challenges is discussed. Authors provide a typology that characterizes NBS based on the gradients of technological interventions and ecosystem services involvement. Discussion continues with the opportunities and risks involving the use of emerging framework.

Keywords: SETS; Governance; Ecosystem Services

 

Ehrman-Solberg, Kevin, Bonnie Keeler, Kate Derickson, and Kirsten Delegard. “Mapping a Path towards Equity: Reflections on a Co-Creative Community Praxis.” GeoJournal, September 11, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-020-10294-1.

A description of two projects that drawing from the community and feminist geography theories attempted to utilize ethical, equitable and transformative process of community engagement resulting in the knowledge that is beneficial for both parities involved. Key takeaways: place-based scholarship accounting for the history and current experiences of communities involved; iterative model that acknowledges that interests might shift throughout the process, and iterative sharing of intermittent results; long-term commitment. Healthy partnerships can be based on shared interests, shared goals, or shared activities. 

Keywords: Social Justice

 

Erdman, Stephen Migliore. “Resilience Special Assessments for Housing Security: A Model for Mitigating Climate and Environmental Gentrification in New York City.” M.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2020.

COMING SOON!

 

Estes, N. (2019). Our history is the future : Standing Rock versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the long tradition of indigenous resistance. In Verso.

COMING SOON!

Finewood, M. H. (2016). Green Infrastructure, Grey Epistemologies, and the Urban Political Ecology of Pittsburgh’s Water Governance. Antipode, 48(4), 1000–1021. https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12238

COMING SOON!

 

Finewood, M. H., & Holifield, R. (2015). Critical approaches to urban water governance: from critique to justice, democracy, and transdisciplinary collaboration. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water, 2(2), 85–96. https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1066

COMING SOON!

 

Finewood, M. H., Matsler, A. M., & Zivkovich, J. (2019). Green Infrastructure and the Hidden Politics of Urban Stormwater Governance in a Postindustrial City. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 109(3), 909–925. https://doi.org/10/gfv7c9

Integration of green infrastructure (and particularly green stormwater infrastructure, GSI) into the broader portfolio of urban infrastructure is examined using a SETS framework. The discussion points out how current conceptions of GSI emphasize the technological lens at the expense of the social, obscuring the politics embedded in decision-making and implementation of GSI. The authors argue that resisting a shift to a mainly-technical view of GSI by keeping the discussion “hot” can help achieve a broader scope of multifunctionality and co-benefits with GI. They conducted interviews of professionals and activists, which revealed just such a discursive shift and exclusion of other perspectives around GI in Pittsburgh, PA.

Keywords: SETS; Social Justice; Governance; Ecosystem Services; Sustainability & Resilience; Planning & Design

 

Finn, D., & Mccormick, L. (2011). Urban climate change plans: How holistic? Local Environment, 16(4), 397–416. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2011.579091

This article seeks to analyze the sustainability plans for NYC, LA, and Chicago, interrogating the relationship between climate change planning and a holistic interpretation of sustainability. To do this, they first propose what they call a more holistic version of sustainability than the three-legged stool, with components as follows: "(1) environmental protection and improvement, (2) procedural equity, (3) geographic equity, (4) social equity, (5) equitable economic development and (6) green economic development." They argue that the plans are primarily focused on Point 1 of this sustainability framing. Green Economic Development and Procedural Equity are both subjects of discussion, but the authors point out that these are often seen as separate from mainstream approaches to similar concepts. For example, little connection is demonstrated between sustainability planning and broader economic development planning. Finally, the authors find that geographic equity, social equity, and equitable economic development remain largely at the level of rhetoric in these plans. 

Keywords: Social Justice, Sustainability & Resilience; Planning & Design

 

Firehock, K., & Walker, R.A. (2015). Strategic Green Infrastructure Planning: A Multi-Scale Approach. Island Press. https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-693-6

This handbook outlines six steps for strategic green infrastructure (GI) planning: 1) set goals, 2) review data, 3) make asset maps, 4) assess risks, 5) determine opportunities, and 6) implement opportunities. Addressing land-use managers directly, this handbook explores GI implementation in a variety of contexts (e.g., spatial, multi-dimensional) with an applicable, digestible approach. 

Keywords: Ecosystem Services; Planning & Design

 

Firth, Louise B., Laura Airoldi, Fabio Bulleri, Steve Challinor, Su-Yin Chee, Ally J. Evans, Mick E. Hanley, et al. “Greening of Grey Infrastructure Should Not Be Used as a Trojan Horse to Facilitate Coastal Development.” Journal of Applied Ecology 57, no. 9 (2020): 1762–68. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13683.

While integrated greening of gray infrastructure (IGGI) associated with coastal development (adding or modifying built structures to facilitate their use as habitat for native organisms, e.g., by drilling artificial pools into concrete structures) can help to offset negative impacts to biodiversity, coastal GI is still not as good a habitat as natural coastal landscapes. The authors argue that we should be wary of greenwashing of IGGI, and that IGGI projects should be studied in more places, for longer times, and with greater depth to avoid potential negative ecological impacts, and negative or other unintended consequences of IGGI should see publication.

Keywords: Ecosystem Services; Sustainability & Resilience; Planning & Design

 

Fithian, L. (n.d.). Shut It Down – Stories From a Fierce, Loving Resistance. Retrieved February 10, 2021, from https://shutitdownnow.org/

COMING SOON!

 

Fletcher, T. D., Shuster, W., Hunt, W. F., Ashley, R., Butler, D., Arthur, S., Trowsdale, S., Barraud, S., Semadeni-Davies, A., Bertrand-Krajewski, J.-L., Mikkelsen, P. S., Rivard, G., Uhl, M., Dagenais, D., & Viklander, M. (2015). SUDS, LID, BMPs, WSUD and more – The evolution and application of terminology surrounding urban drainage. Urban Water Journal, 12(7), 525–542. https://doi.org/10.1080/1573062X.2014.916314

Numerous terminologies exist for the management of urban stormwater (including, but not limited to, best management practices, green infrastructure, integrated urban water management, low impact development, stormwater control measures, sustainable urban drainage systems, and water sensitive urban design), and, thus, this paper reviews the evolution and current understanding of these existing terms. The authors state that terminology should be able continuing to evolve in local contexts, but professionals should be explicit in their use.

Keywords: Sustainability & Resilience  

 

Foster, J. (2006). Restoration of the Don Valley Brick Works: Whose Restoration? Whose Space? Journal of Urban Design, 3: 331-351. https://doi.org/10.1080/13574800500297702

COMING SOON!

 

Fu, Xin, Matthew Hopton, and Xinhao Wang. “Assessment of Green Infrastructure Performance through an Urban Resilience Lens.” Journal of Cleaner Production, November 18, 2020, 125146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.125146.

The authors develop and present a planning support system for evaluating urban watershed-scale GI implementation through a resilience lens that integrates environmental, social, economic, and cultural dimensions. The planning support system presented here is a decision support tool that incorporates spatial data, expert knowledge, stakeholder input, etc. to help visualize and define options and rank scenarios according to an index score that combines multiple indicators across dimensions of urban resilience. An example of this system is shown through application to the Congress Run watershed in Ohio.

Keywords: Sustainability & Resilience

Gavrilidis, A. A., Niță, M. R., Onose, D. A., Badiu, D. L., & Năstase, I. I. (2019). Methodological framework for urban sprawl control through sustainable planning of urban green infrastructure. Ecological Indicators, 96, 67–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2017.10.054

Urban sprawl fragments the natural and semi-natural areas in the urban fringe while urban densification reduces the urban green space within a city. A method for determining where urban green space should be planned in relation to neighboring land use is proposed. Strategically planning urban green spaces for vacant land within a city will attract real estate investment thereby expanding development within the city limits, reducing urban sprawl, and prevent further densification.

Keywords: Planning & Design

Gavriș, Alexandru, and Claudia Popescu. (2021). The Refeudalisation of Parks: Subduing Urban Parks in Bucharest. Local Environment, 1: 131–145. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2020.1867838.

COMING SOON!

Gibson, Jamesha, Marccus D. Hendricks, and Jeremy C. Wells. “From Engagement to Empowerment: How Heritage Professionals Can Incorporate Participatory Methods in Disaster Recovery to Better Serve Socially Vulnerable Groups.” International Journal of Heritage Studies 25, no. 6 (June 3, 2019): 596–610. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2018.1530291.

With this article, the participatory turn in policy and planning reaches the heritage disciplines. Using the particular power imbalances in a post-disaster setting to highlight the urgency, the authors propose that participatory mixed methods offer a democratization of planning regulation that rectifies blind spots in “the values, doctrines, and methodologies of orthodox heritage practice” which have left traditionally vulnerable and marginalized groups out of the loop and away from the bargaining table when it comes to heritage. They use Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act to highlight the ways in which these imbalances play out, discussing how the Section and its affiliated rules determine “whose heritage” gets protected, particularly in the case of disaster relief (through things like funding and technical assistance allocation). They argue that heritage as a field is particularly ripe for a participatory turn, since the nature of heritage requires that rules and regulations privilege the perspectives of those enforcing them to determine what exactly is “heritage.” 

Keywords: Social Justice; Governance

 

Gould, Rachelle K., Leah L. Bremer, Pua’ala Pascua, and Kelly Meza-Prado. “Frontiers in Cultural Ecosystem Services: Toward Greater Equity and Justice in Ecosystem Services Research and Practice.” BioScience. Accessed November 15, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biaa112.

Using a justice and equity lens, this paper briefly critiques the cultural ecosystem service (CES) concept and provides an overview of five frontiers of CES research. The authors argue the conceptualisation should be broadened to acknowledge the reciprocal, relational and dynamic nature of CES. To address shortfalls in power dynamics of representation and evaluation methods, the authors recommend scholars engage with place-based research in collaboration with indigenous groups to examine the nonmaterial value of CES. They highlight that CES are often shared as a cultural and collective experience and hence, participatory and narrative-based methods should be employed to unpack how these experiences influence issues of equity and justice.

Keywords: Social Justice; Ecosystem Services

 

Grabowski, Z. J., Matsler, A. M., Thiel, C., McPhillips, L., Hum, R., Bradshaw, A., Miller, T., & Redman, C. (2017). Infrastructures as Socio-Eco-Technical Systems: Five Considerations for Interdisciplinary Dialogue. Journal of Infrastructure Systems, 23(4). https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)IS.1943-555X.0000383

Infrastructure systems are embedded by interdependent social, ecological, and technological dimensions, meaning an interdisciplinary perspective is needed for not only physical infrastructure components but also governance. The authors outline five critical considerations of social, ecological, and technological systems: 1) democractic goal-setting, 2) addressing complexity and scale, 3) ecological-technological solutions, 4) enabling resilience, and 5) expect evolution.

Keywords: SETS; Governance; Sustainability & Resilience

 

Grabowski, Z. J., Klos, P. Z., & Monfreda, C. (2019). Enhancing urban resilience knowledge systems through experiential pluralism. Environmental Science and Policy, 96, 70–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2019.03.007

Building on the imperative to acknowledge knowledge systems in complex socio-ecological systems but recognizing its limitations in mitigating power imbalances (alienation) in urban decision-making contexts, the authors propose the concept of “experiential pluralism.” Experiential pluralism seeks to more strongly engage experience as knowledge, beyond simply building knowledge of diverse experiences in cities. The authors argue that a turn towards experiential pluralism will more substantively promote the collaborative ideals of sustainability science.

Keywords: SETS; Governance

 

Groenewegen, P. P., Van Den Berg, A. E., De Vries, S., & Verheij, R. A. (2006). Vitamin G: Effects of green space on health, well-being, and social safety. BMC Public Health, 6(1), 149. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-6-149

Green space impacts human health--physical and mental; this study protocol proposes an existing program, Vitamin G, to explore the relationships between various green space characteristics and human health, the mechanisms behind these relationships, and how these results can be utilized in policy-making. The program is critiqued for potential benefits and challenges toward answering these questions.

Keywords: Ecosystem Services; Human Health

Haiven, M. (2014). The radical imagination: social movement research in the age of austerity. In Zed Books.

COMING SOON!

Hanna, Christina, Iain White, and Bruce C. Glavovic. “Managed Retreats by Whom and How? Identifying and Delineating Governance Modalities.” Climate Risk Management 31 (January 1, 2021): 100278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crm.2021.100278.

COMING SOON!

Hansen, R., Olafsson, A. S., van der Jagt, A. P. N., Rall, E., & Pauleit, S. (2019). Planning multifunctional green infrastructure for compact cities: What is the state of practice? Ecological Indicators, 96, 99–110. https://doi.org/10/gf4589

This article is a follow-on to a 2014 piece by two of the authors, asking about the state of multifunctionality in planning-in-practice, particularly in compact cities. The authors analyze plans from 20 cities and take special focus on three (Berlin, Edinburgh, Aarhus) to assess this. Based on their findings, they propose five key areas of action for the integration of GI in densifying urban spaces. These are best left as written: "1) undertake systematic spatial assessments of all urban green (and blue) spaces and their social, ecological and economic functions; 2) include standards and guidelines for multifunctionality in city-wide strategic planning; 3) encourage design and management for multifunctionality at the site-level while considering that not all sites must deliver the same set of functions. Further, spatial assessment, strategic planning and site design need to 4) consider synergies, trade-offs and the capacity of urban green spaces to provide functions as part of the wider green infrastructure network; and 5) largely benefit from cooperation between different sectors and public departments. These recommendations can also be instructive for research on ecosystem service assessments in order to develop approaches that more strongly correspond to the demands of planning practice."

Keywords: Planning & Design

 

Hansen, R., & Pauleit, S. (2014). From Multifunctionality to Multiple Ecosystem Services? A Conceptual Framework for Multifunctionality in Green Infrastructure Planning for Urban Areas. AMBIO, 43(4), 516–529. https://doi.org/10/f5zq23

Hansen and Pauleit are among several scholars who pioneered the lens of multifunctionality in green infrastructure, and in this piece they use a review of the literature to propose an ecosystem service lens for that multifunctionality. Specifically, they propose a framework that assesses several dimension of supply and demand for multiple ecosystem services, then follows this with 5 types synthesis assessment: 1) GI Integrity, 2) Hotspots, 3) Synergies and Tradeoffs, 4) Supply and Demand balance, and 5) Stakeholder preferences. These 5 synthesis methods can lead to plan-making.

Keywords: Planning & Design, Ecosystem Services

 

Hartig, T., Mitchell, R., De Vries, S., & Frumkin, H. (2014). Nature and health. Annual Review of Public Health, 35, 207–228. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-032013-182443

This paper explores some of the challenges that are encountered when defining what is 

nature from a natural and artificial perspective and reviews literature on the pathways through which contact with nature may influence health. Four pathways that link nature and health are reviewed including:: air quality, physical activity, social cohesion and stress reduction. Methodological challenges associated with measuring exposure to nature, understanding mechanisms, causality and the size of the effect are also discussed.

Keywords: SETS; Ecosystem Services; Human Health.

Harvey, D. (2009). Social Justice and the City. University of Georgia Press. https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/lib/asulib-ebooks/detail.action?pq-origsite=primo&docID=3038870

COMING SOON!

Health Organization Regional Office for Europe, W. (2016). Urban Green Space and Health: Review of evidence. www.euro.urban greenspace

This report provides a comprehensive review of evidence of beneficial effects of urban green spaces on health and well-being including: improved mental health, reduced cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, obesity and risk of type 2 diabetes, and improved pregnancy outcomes. The report also discusses the potential pathways and mechanisms in which urban greenspace influences health including: psychological restoration, building capacity through increased physical activity and/ or mitigation of the  effects of air and noise pollutants as well as excess heat. 

Keywords: Human Health; Ecosystem Services.

 

Heckert, M., & Rosan, C. D. (2016). Developing a green infrastructure equity index to promote equity planning. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 19, 263–270. https://doi.org/10/f8828r

The authors argue for need-based conceptualisation of equity in green infrastructure planning that prioritises the needs of communities by identifying those communities that suffer from an ‘equity deficit’ in the provision of amenities make a difference to quality of life. Based on the work of Talen (1998, 2000), the authors develop a GIS-based equity index that may be used in participatory planning processes to help planners, decision makers and citizens identify the areas that are in most need of the benefits arising from green infrastructure projects. 

Key words: SETS; Social Justice; Governance; Planning & Design

 

Hendricks, Marccus D., Michelle A. Meyer, Nasir G. Gharaibeh, Shannon Van Zandt, Jaimie Masterson, John T. Cooper, Jennifer A. Horney, and Philip Berke. “The Development of a Participatory Assessment Technique for Infrastructure: Neighborhood-Level Monitoring towards Sustainable Infrastructure Systems.” Sustainable Cities and Society 38 (April 1, 2018): 265–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2017.12.039.

This paper describes the development, use, and benefits of participatory, neighborhood-scale assessment of stormwater infrastructure using a case study in Houston, TX, USA. Such a technique can enhance justice by putting data in the hands of communities, help ensure the “triple bottom line” (environmental, economic, and social outcomes) is met by sustainable infrastructure, and add richness to assessment data through local knowledge. They developed the Participatory Assessment Technique for Infrastructure (PATI), which includes a survey tool for users to assess infrastructure in their neighborhoods according to co-developed performance standards and compliance, which are refined through focus groups.

Keywords: Social Justice; Sustainability & Resilience; Planning & Design

 

Hoffman, J., Shandas, V., and Pendleton, N. (2020). The Effects of Historical Housing Policies on Resident Exposure to Intra-Urban Heat: A Study of 108 US Urban Areas. Climate 8(1): 12. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli8010012.

Historical redlining policies are discernible in land surface temperatures (LST) across the majority of American cities (94%). These areas experience higher LST due to unequal investment in green infrastructure, such as urban tree canopy coverage. Furthermore, low-income areas are often targeted for infrastructure projects such as roadways and large buildings, which amplify the urban heat island effect. Communities with high LST are at higher risk of mortality and morbidity and more likely to have high summertime energy usage, which both also increase financial burdens.

Keywords: Social Justice; Human Health

Holmes, R. (2020). The Problem with Solutions. Places Journal, 2020. https://doi.org/10.22269/200714

COMING SOON!

Hoover, F. A., Price, J. I., & Hopton, M. E. (2020). Examining the effects of green infrastructure on residential sales prices in Omaha, Nebraska. Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, 54, 126778. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2020.126778

Implementation of green stormwater infrastructure is often completed with other improvement projects making it hard to isolate its impact on curb appeal. Further, when green stormwater infrastructure is put in parks or existing green spaces it may not be recognized as beneficial without education. Without visibility, green stormwater infrastructure provides little perceived property value. Additionally, it may take years for the valuation of green infrastructure to impact the housing market. Therefore, because many of the practices were recently built out of sight, in parks, and out of the minds of residents this study found no statistical significance between residential sales price and green infrastructure.

Keywords: Planning & Design

 

Hopperton, P. (2013). Tangled Roots: Dialogues Exploring Ecological Justice, Healing, and Decolonization. Briarpatch, Inc.

COMING SOON!

 

Hsu, D., Lim, T. C., & Meng, T. (2020). Rocky steps towards adaptive management and adaptive governance in implementing green infrastructure at urban scale in Philadelphia. Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, 55(April 2019), 126791. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2020.126791

This is a mixed methods case study of the rollout of stormwater management utility fee basis change and subsequent voluntary participation in voluntary green stormwater infrastructure adoption program in Philadelphia. Although impervious area-based fees and credit systems have been suggested to be able to “nudge” private actors to build green infrastructure on private property, this study shows the unexpected political pushback (and non-reactions) to such a system, and how “adaptive management” steps resulted in loss of credibility and power for the Philadelphia Water Department.

Keywords: Planning & Design, Sustainability & Resilience

 

Huang, Y., Tian, Z., Ke, Q., Liu, J., Irannezhad, M., Fan, D., Hou, M., & Sun, L. (2020). Nature‐based solutions for urban pluvial flood risk management. WIREs Water, 7(3), e1421. https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1421

Nature-based solutions to urban pluvial flooding, based on design methodology, are also known as green stormwater infrastructure, water sensitive urban design, sustainable urban drainage systems, sponge city, low impact development, stormwater control measures, and best management practices. Nature-based solutions are less effective at reducing urban flooding risks under extreme storms, but can substantially reduce low-intensity storms when enough measures are implemented. A planning cycle for adaptive long-term nature-based solution implementation is proposed: 1) examine the study area’s current state of flooding, 2) model the impact of practice placement and selection on flooding objectives, 3) evaluate the modeled scenarios, 4) develop implementation plans, and 5) build and monitor. The combination of gray infrastructure and nature-based solutions can mitigate floods caused by moderate intensity storms.

Keywords: Ecosystem Services; Sustainability & Resilience; Planning & Design

Jacoby, K. (2019). Crimes against Nature. In Crimes against Nature. University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520957930

COMING SOON!

Jelks, Na’Taki Osborne, Viniece Jennings, and Alessandro Rigolon. “Green Gentrification and Health: A Scoping Review.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 3 (January 2021): 907. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18030907.

The first review of literature focused specifically on the impacts of green gentrification on the mental and physical health of individuals. This review distinguishes between health impacts on white residents, which are often positive, with those on BIPOC residents, which are often mixed or negative. Many times, BIPOC and low-income residents felt unsafe or unwelcome in gentrified green spaces or else were displaced and could not benefit from the developments. The paper concludes with recommendations to allow BIPOC and low-income individuals to maximize benefits from green infrastructure.

Keywords: Human Health

 

Jennings, V., Larson, L., & Yun, J. (2016). Advancing sustainability through urban green space: Cultural ecosystem services, equity, and social determinants of health. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 13(2). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13020196

Using an environmental justice lens, this paper reviews literature on the relationship between cultural ecosystems services provided by urban greenspace and their influence on the social determinants of health (SDOH): health and health care, neighborhood and built environment, social cohesion and social networks, education and economic stability. The authors argue that to achieve health equity and promote physical and psychological well-being, communities should have access to cultural ecosystems services that are able to influence the SDOH. 

Keywords: Social Justice; Ecosystem Services; Human Health

 

Jia, J., S. Zlatanova, S. Hawken, and K. F. Zhang. “Making Smart Urban Decisions: The Niche of a Parametric Spatial Model to Balance the Needs of Urban Stormwater Management and Human Wellbeing.” ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences; Gottingen VI-4/W2-2020 (2020): 79–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/isprs-annals-VI-4-W2-2020-79-2020.

Jia et al. present a fairly comprehensive, intro-level review of: 1) sustainable stormwater management methods; 2) green space and human wellbeing; and 3) the intersection of those two through the lens of space (and the application of a parametric spatial model to that intersection). They advocate the adoption of a platform called Grasshopper for modeling of the "syntactic environment" - which they claim allows simultaneous assessment of parameters affecting human wellbeing and stormwater. The proceedings paper does not endeavor to employ the model mentioned. 

Keywords: Sustainability & Resilience; Planning & Design

 

Kabisch, Nadja, and Dagmar Haase. “Green Justice or Just Green? Provision of Urban Green Spaces in Berlin, Germany.” Landscape and Urban Planning 122 (February 1, 2014): 129–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2013.11.016.

This paper combines theories of distributional, procedural and interactional justice with the concept of social justice to examine the injustice of urban greenspace (UGS) provision in Berlin. The study finds that per capita values for the supply of UGS are above national average. However, closer examination of the distribution of UGS across different demographic groups reveals vulnerable groups such as the elderly and migrant communities under use UGS. The study recommends urban planners should equitably distribute space, amenities and resources for different groups and all users when designing and managing UGS, including the recreation and social needs of an aging society.

Keywords: Social Justice

 

Kabisch, N., Korn, H., Stadler, J., & Bonn, A. (Eds.). (2017). Nature-based Solutions to Climate Change Adaptation in Urban Areas. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56091-5

This book approaches the complexity of nature-based solutions (NBS) through the lens of diverse perspectives (e.g., disciplinarity, spatially) to understand how NBS addresses climate adaptation through built and institutional structures and advances co-benefits. The book is developed with researchers and practitioners to explore applications of NBS in cities across the globe. 

Keywords: SETS; Social Justice; Governance; Ecosystem Services; Human Health; Sustainability & Resilience; Planning & Design

 

Kabisch, N., & van den Bosch, M. A. (2017). Urban Green Spaces and the Potential for Health Improvement and Environmental Justice in a Changing Climate. In Theory and Practice of Urban Sustainability Transitions (pp. 207–220). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56091-5_12

This book chapter focuses on the intersection of climate change adaptation and urban green space. Specifically, it conceptualizes green space as one type of nature based solution which has implications for urban health in the context of climate change. The study highlights the case of Berlin, where access to urban green space varies significantly across the city. They highlight this inequity, both in the context of passive goods like stormwater and heat management, but also in terms of active provisioning like recreation space. In particular, children in Berlin face low levels of access, especially in the city center.

Keywords: Social Justice; Governance; Ecosystem Services; Human Health; Sustainability & Resilience; Planning & Design

 

Kabisch, Nadja, Salman Qureshi, and Dagmar Haase. “Human–Environment Interactions in Urban Green Spaces — A Systematic Review of Contemporary Issues and Prospects for Future Research.” Environmental Impact Assessment Review 50 (January 1, 2015): 25–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2014.08.007.

Research on green spaces has rapidly grown since the early 2000s. Most green space research is qualitative and focuses on the Western cultures. The authors note that much of the research is not transferable, and multi-scalar approaches should be considered in the future. Many of the studies were interdisciplinary, which is useful due to the complexity of urban green spaces.

Keywords: Ecosystem Services; Human Health

 

Kavehei, E., Jenkins, G. A., Adame, M. F., & Lemckert, C. (2018). Carbon sequestration potential for mitigating the carbon footprint of green stormwater infrastructure. In Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews (Vol. 94, pp. 1179–1191). Elsevier Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2018.07.002

Green stormwater infrastructure has a net carbon footprint consisting of embodied carbon in the materials, transportation, and construction, time dependent carbon in the operation, maintenance, and sequestration, and end-of-life carbon. Green roofs, rain gardens, bioretention basins, and stormwater ponds were reviewed for life cycle assessment of net carbon footprint. Bioretention basins, green roofs, vegetated swales, and stormwater ponds sequester approximately 70%, 68%, 45%, and 8% of their carbon footprint through their 30 to 40 year lifetime. Rain gardens, a non-engineered small scale system may be carbon neutral and may sequester up to 12.6 kg CO2 m-2 over 30 years. However, limited studies of carbon sequestration in green stormwater infrastructure exist except for ponds. Thus, the practices with higher carbon sequestration potential need further investigation.

Keywords: Ecosystem Services, Sustainability & Resilience, Planning & Design

 

Keeler, B. L., Hamel, P., McPhearson, T., Hamann, M. H., Donahue, M. L., Meza Prado, K. A., Arkema, K. K., Bratman, G. N., Brauman, K. A., Finlay, J. C., Guerry, A. D., Hobbie, S. E., Johnson, J. A., MacDonald, G. K., McDonald, R. I., Neverisky, N., & Wood, S. A. (2019). Social-ecological and technological factors moderate the value of urban nature. In Nature Sustainability (Vol. 2, Issue 1, pp. 29–38). Nature Publishing Group. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0202-1

This is a review article of research on urban ecosystem services using a Social, Ecological, Technological framework to identify the the factors that are most influential in determining value of urban nature. The purpose of the framework is to make research on urban ecosystem services more generalizable across contexts and more comparable to the performance metrics of traditional “gray” infrastructure. Equity and distributional considerations, as well as potential co-benefits and disservices must be considered.

Keywords: SETS; Ecosystem Services; Social Justice

Kim, Y., Chester, M. V., Eisenberg, D. A., & Redman, C. L. (2019). The Infrastructure Trolley Problem: Positioning Safe‐to‐fail Infrastructure for Climate Change Adaptation. Earth’s Future, 2019EF001208. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019EF001208

This study suggests a new definition of ‘safe-to-fail’ approach for infrastructure development as a design paradigm that internalizes the consequences of infrastructure failure in the development process. This framing of safe-to-fail further reveals an emerging “infrastructure trolley problem” where the adaptive capacity of some regions is improved at the expense of others. This study demonstrates practical dilemmas in developing infrastructure under nonstationary climate and guides managing trade-offs in the prioritization of different consequences of infrastructure failure.

Keywords: SETS

Kim, Y., Eisenberg, D. A., Bondank, E. N., Chester, M. V, Mascaro, G., & Underwood, & B. S. (2017). Fail-safe and safe-to-fail adaptation: decision-making for urban flooding under climate change. Climate Change, 145, 397–412. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-017-2090-1

This study assesses potential flooding solutions based on various infrastructure resilience characteristics using a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) analytic hierarchy process algorithm to prioritize “safe-to-fail” and “fail-safe” strategies depending on stakeholder preferences using a case study of Phoenix, Arizona. This study results suggest that adaptation strategy may differ depending on stakeholders' different preferences on resilience characteristics.

Keywords: SETS

Kinchy, A. (n.d.). Science by the People. Retrieved February 10, 2021, from https://abbykinchy.weebly.com/science-by-the-people.html

Assigned: 

Kistemaker, R. (2020). “Assessing Environmental Gentrification in Slotervaart.” 

In this undergraduate thesis, Kistemaker presents a long, but comprehensive summary of environmental gentrification theory and research before testing for the presence of environmental gentrification in Slotervaart, Amsterdam. The author conducts a statistical analysis to verify the presence of gentrification in the neighborhood before assessing recent policy and planning efforts in the area for evidence of the role of green space in this gentrification. They conclude that the neighborhood is indeed gentrifying, and that recent green space policy may be exacerbating this trend. 

Keywords: Governance; Social Justice

Klein, M., Keeler, B., Derickson, K., Swift, K., Jacobs, F., Waters, H., & Walker, R. (2020). Sharing in the Benefits of a Greening City: A Policy Toolkit in Pursuit of Economic, Environmental, and Racial Justice. The CREATE Initiative, University of Minnesota. https://create.umn.edu/toolkit/

A policy toolkit with the goal of enabling diverse communities to benefit from green infrastructure and increasing urban green space rather than facing gentrification or community displacement. This work is based on the input of many different scholars, community organizers, and others who are intimately connected with environmental justice, green infrastructure, affordable housing, and racial justice work. The document includes background education, specific recommendations for anti-displacement policies, action items for putting concepts into action, and general approaches and considerations for every individual involved in any aspect of a green infrastructure project. These discussions acknowledge a diversity of opinions and seek to transparently address the advantages and disadvantages of each strategy.

Keywords: SETS; Governance; Social Justice; Sustainability & Resilience

Kotsila, P., Anguelovski, I., Baró, F., Langemeyer, J., Sekulova, F., & Connolly, J. J. T. (2020). Nature-based solutions as discursive tools and contested practices in urban nature’s neoliberalisation processes. EPE: Nature and Space: 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848620901437

Nature-based solutions (NBS) is an emerging term emerging from positive science and neoliberalism, which emerged parallel to sustainability discourse. The authors explore two case studies in Barcelona, Spain to understand how varying governance structures impacted the implementation of NBS. The authors assert that NBS has three underlying assumptions: 1) NBS can address the triple bottom line; 2) nature may be harnessed to achieve an objective, and 3) disservices have been negotiated. They found that NBS can be leveraged to serve privileged groups (e.g., green spaces are maintained through volunteering, which means the communities must have the resources and/or time to contribute). 

Keywords: Social Justice, Sustainability & Resilience

Kremer, P., Hamstead, Z. A., & McPhearson, T. (2016). The value of urban ecosystem services in New York City: A spatially explicit multicriteria analysis of landscape scale valuation scenarios. Environmental Science & Policy, 62, 57–68. https://doi.org/10/f8t4j8

COMING SOON!

 

Kuller, M., Bach, P. M., Ramirez-Lovering, D., & Deletic, A. (2017). Framing water sensitive urban design as part of the urban form: A critical review of tools for best planning practice. Environmental Modelling & Software, 96, 265–282. https://doi.org/10/gbvd4t

COMING SOON!

Lai, F., Dai, T., Zhen, J., Riverson, J., Alvi, K., & Shoemaker, L. (2007). SUSTAIN - An EPA BMP Process and Placement Tool for Urban Watersheds. Proceedings of the Water Environment Foundation: 946–968. https://swap.stanford.edu/20121204024722/http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/wswrd/wq/models/sustain/sustain_paper2007.pdf

The authors introduce a tool, ‘System for Urban Stormwater Treatment and Analysis Integration (SUSTAIN)’ to aid stormwater managers in identifying optimal locations for best management practices (BMPs). This paper introduces the framework for the tool, which at the time, was still in development. The tool optimizes the width and/or depth of the BMP along with water quantity and quality variables across various spatial scales.

Keywords: Sustainability & Resilience; Planning & Design

Leach, M. (2010). Dynamic sustainabilities technology, environment, social justice. In Earthscan.

COMING SOON!

 

Lechner, Alex M., Rachel L. Gomes, Lucelia Rodrigues, Matthew J. Ashfold, Sivathass Bannir Selvam, Ee Phin Wong, Christopher M. Raymond, et al. “Challenges and Considerations of Applying Nature-Based Solutions in Low- and Middle-Income Countries in Southeast and East Asia.” Blue-Green Systems, no. bgs2020014 (December 10, 2020). https://doi.org/10.2166/bgs.2020.014.

Various collaborators from different countries discuss green infrastructure projects in Southeast Asia and China. Of particular interest are rapidly developing areas with low to middle incomes (and, more specifically, the ways in which human quality of life is impacted by this rapid development and the ways in which NBS may mitigate some of the negative impacts. One important service this paper provides is a discussion on the definition of nature-based solutions (NBS). Some references documents assert that biodiversity and ecological functions must be central design requirements. For example, green roofs with vegetation that is non-native, homogeneous, or genetically identical (cloned from a single individual) do not meet these requirements. Still, a gradient of NBS systems are thought to exist depending on the level of their design and function. These levels may occur in unexpected ways. For example, degraded and fragmented blue-green spaces are still thought to provide value as biodiversity conservators sheltered from outside predators. Ultimately, NBS are thought to face five major types of challenges and considerations: 1) characteristics of urbanization, 2) biophysical environmental and climatic context, 3) environmental risk and challenges for restoration, 4) human nature relationships and conflicts, and 5) policy and governance context. Of unique importance to this region of the world is the role of seasonal flooding, with which NBS remains largely untested. Other regional topics of interest include the treatment of landfill leachate in Singapore using a constructed wetland system, human health risks associated with the large diversity of animals that may colonize NBS in urban settings, and dangers associated with the inadvertent creation of mosquito habitat in standing water and particularly in tropical climates. Other considerations highlighted for this region of the world were that very few research studies on NBS were conducted in Southeast Asia and particularly in lower income countries, that authoritarian government styles may disproportionately influence whether NBS investments are made, and that economic diversity is very distinct across regions within individual countries.

Keywords: SETS

 

Lefebvre, H. (1996). The Right to the City. https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/henri-lefebvre-right-to-the-city

COMING SOON!

 

Leite, Caroline Ferreira, and Janini de Oliveira Dias. “SUSTENTABILIDADE PARA QUEM? O DESENVOLVIMENTO SUSTENTÁVEL E SUAS PARTICULARIDADES, CASO NOVA IORQUE.” Intellectus Revista Acadêmica Digital 60 (2020): 14.

A review of the PlaNYC 2030 strategy in New York City and progress made to date on green infrastructure and other sustainability goals. The paper discusses the gentrification which has been correlated with the High Line green infrastructure project in New York City. Further connections are drawn between the low-income areas most vulnerable to gentrification and their disproportionate exposure to the COVID-19 virus due to housing density and the occupations of their residents. A final claim asserts that sustainability is a process rather than a product, and conflation made more likely by capitalist economies.

Keywords: Planning & Design

 

Lennon, Mick, and Mark Scott. “Delivering Ecosystems Services via Spatial Planning: Reviewing the Possibilities and Implications of a Green Infrastructure Approach.” Town Planning Review 85, no. 5 (January 1, 2014): 563–88. https://doi.org/10.3828/tpr.2014.35

COMING SOON!

Lerer, S., Righetti, F., Rozario, T., & Mikkelsen, P. (2017). Integrated Hydrological Model-Based Assessment of Stormwater Management Scenarios in Copenhagen’s First Climate Resilient Neighbourhood Using the Three Point Approach. Water, 9(11), 883. https://doi.org/10.3390/w9110883

A spatially-distributed urban flood model was used to determine the mitigative capacity of combined green and grey infrastructure to cloudburst flooding. A three point approach (3PA) includes modeling the following domains: everyday (continuous rainfall simulation), design (10-year storm), and extreme (100-year storm). The 3PA improves effective communication of the solution, but does not reduce the complexity and uncertainty of stormwater management. 

Keywords: Sustainability & Resilience; Planning & Design

 

Liu, Z., Xiu, C., & Ye, C. (2020). Improving Urban Resilience through Green Infrastructure: An Integrated Approach for Connectivity Conservation in the Central City of Shenyang, China. Complexity, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/1653493

In Shenyang, China from 1995 to 2015 green infrastructure (i.e., green space) areal extent has decreased by 39% consequenting increased fragmentation of green space. Urban ecological resilience can be enhanced through added edge green space, removal of migratory barriers, and conservation of corridors. The vegetation can take the form of widened green corridors, riparian buffers, and more green patches around highways and urban areas.  

Keywords: Sustainability & Resilience; Planning & Design

 

Lovell, R., Depledge, M., & Maxwell, S. (2018). Health and the natural environment: A review of evidence, policy, practice and opportunities for the future. Defra Fellowship BE0109. https://beyondgreenspace.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/health-and-the-natural-environment_full-report.pdf

The natural environment impacts human health and wellbeing. This report focuses on the actual and perceived relationships between the natural environment and good health and explores how these relationships may be integrated into policy and practice.

Keywords: Human Health

 

Lovell, S. T., & Taylor, J. R. (2013). Supplying urban ecosystem services through multifunctional green infrastructure in the United States. Landscape Ecology, 28(8), 1447–1463. https://doi.org/10/f5cwth

Lovell and Taylor offer one of the early attempts to conceptualize and plan urban green infrastructure through the lens of multifunctionality. To do this, they considered ecosystem services in the spirit of landscape ecology, considering how a participatory planning process could result in better "ecological and social health" outcomes for the city. In support of this, the authors review a number of potential decision support tools, including life cycle assessment and the multifunctional landscapes assessment tool. They follow this by discussing strategies for quantifying a number of ecosystem services relevant to GI and proposing principles for establishing a participatory assessment of the multiple services.

Keywords: Ecosystem Services; Planning & Design

 

Lugo, A. E. (2020). Effects of Extreme Disturbance Events: From Ecesis to Social–Ecological–Technological Systems. Ecosystems, 23(8), 1726–1747. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-020-00491-x

Disturbance events are caused by forces in an ecosystem that lead to ecesis - the establishment of species in a new environment. Due to urbanization there are more human-caused disturbances. Thus social and technological systems have to be incorporated with the ecosystem’s ecesis. A case study of applying SETS to Puerto Rico during Hurricane Maria postulates that (1) human reaction to extreme disturbance events influences the structure and species composition of ecosystems, (2) human legacy alters the succession trajectory of novel forests more than extreme disturbance events, and (3) species composition and functioning of novel forests depends on economic activity. 

Keywords: SETS

Mabelis, A. (2005). Green infrastructure of a city and its biodiversity: take Warsaw as an example. Fragmenta Faunistica, 48(2): 231–247. https://doi.org/10.3161/00159301ff2005.48.2.231

Cities are ecosystems, and design choices have environmental and biological impacts (e.g., urban heat island, light pollution). The authors discuss how green infrastructure design (e.g., connectivity, quality) in a city influences the survival of various animal and plant species, and how green infrastructure can be designed to keep the city livable for both humans and biota.

Keywords: SETS

Mabon, Leslie. “Environmental Justice in Urban Greening for Subtropical Asian Cities: The View from Taipei.” Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography 41, no. 3 (2020): 432–49. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjtg.12341.

An analysis of English-language newspaper articles from the Taipei Times containing words related to green space to provide insight on sentiments and concerns around green infrastructure in tropical Asian cities. Prior to this paper, few studies have considered the impact of green gentrification in Asian cities, which contain the majority of the world's housing. In this study, newspaper articles were coded according to subject and tone as well as mentions of justice or injustice. Different types of justice were coded separately: distributional, procedural, and recognition. While urban planning initiatives may seek to provide equitable access to green space, economic pressures from socially powerful groups and organizations strongly influence final outcomes.

Keywords: Planning & Design

Mandarano, L., & Meenar, M. (2017). Equitable distribution of green stormwater infrastructure: a capacity-based framework for implementation in disadvantaged communities. Local Environment, 22(11): 1338–1357. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2017.1345878

Analysis of GIS data for Philadelphia to more equitably distribute green stormwater infrastructure investments in the city. Statistical analyses revealed complex interactions between various social vulnerability indicators and green infrastructure investments. For example, vacant lots are common in several low-income areas of Philadelphia. These areas also have substantial green infrastructure investments because green stormwater infrastructure is required for all new land development. Areas with predominantly Asian residents, however, are seeing fewer green stormwater infrastructure investments because those areas have less access to green space or vacant land where such developments could occur. These interactions are further complicated by gentrification which both attracts specific demographics as green infrastructure investments are made and also makes green infrastructure investments more likely to occur as more highly-educated and socially-powerful individuals are able to influence development plans. This paper proposes a framework for locating green infrastructure by prioritizing areas that both are in greatest need of green infrastructure and have the greatest community capacity to engage with the city as decision-making partners.

Keywords: Planning & Design

 

Marcuse, P. (2009). From critical urban theory to the right to the city. City, 13(2–3), 185–197. https://doi.org/10.1080/13604810902982177

COMING SOON!

Markolf, S. A., Chester, M. V., Eisenberg, D. A., Iwaniec, D. M., Davidson, C. I., Zimmerman, R., Miller, T. R., Ruddell, B. L., & Chang, H. (2018). Interdependent Infrastructure as Linked Social, Ecological, and Technological Systems (SETSs) to Address Lock-in and Enhance Resilience. Earth’s Future, 6(12): 1638–1659. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018EF000926

Traditional infrastructure systems have been approached from a technological perspective and based on the idea of resiliency in robustness. However, with emerging threats such as climate change, it is clear that infrastructure systems are not simply of the technological domain but also of social and ecological domains. By approaching infrastructure from a social-ecological-technological perspective, infrastructure managers may prevent maladaptation and realize innovative adaptive approaches.

Keywords: SETS; Sustainability & Resilience

 

Matsler, M. A. (2019). Making ‘green’ fit in a ‘grey’ accounting system: The institutional knowledge system challenges of valuing urban nature as infrastructural assets. Environmental Science and Policy, 99: 160–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2019.05.023

Asset management practices do not value green infrastructure adequately, leading to an undervaluation by municipal departments. Ecosystem services are not assets recognized by financial institutions, which creates a tension between financial accounting and ecological knowledge systems. Despite this, the value of green infrastructure is gaining traction, but further work is needed to fulfill the potential of green infrastructure. 

Keywords: Governance; Ecosystem Services

Matsler, M., Meerow, S., Mell, I., & Pavao-Zuckerman. A 'green' chameleon: Exploring the many disciplinary definitions, goals, and forms of "green infrastructure." Landscape and Urban Planning, 214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2021.104145

The authors explore the geographical and disciplinary variation of green infrastructure definitions. A more universal definition of green infrastructure is critical to navigate the concept and assess variations in benefits. 

Matthews, T., Lo, A. Y., & Byrne, J. A. (2015). Reconceptualizing green infrastructure for climate change adaptation: Barriers to adoption and drivers for uptake by spatial planners. Landscape and Urban Planning, 138: 155–163. https://doi.org/10/f7d35r

This paper offers a definition of green infrastructure from a climate adaptation perspective to help clarify and facilitate GI as a solution for climate risks faced by cities. Beyond biophysical limitations, the authors identify definitional ambiguity and lack of fit within existing planning procedures (i.e., path dependence) as potential socio-political barriers to implementation of GI for climate adaptation, and suggest additional research into the role of agency and institutions in facilitating or inhibiting GI for climate adaptation.

Keywords: Governance; Planning & Design

 

McPhillips, L., & Matsler, M. (2018). Temporal Evolution of Green Stormwater Infrastructure Strategies in Three US Cities. Frontiers in Built Environment, 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbuil.2018.00026

The study reviews the development of stormwater control measures, including green infrastructure, in three major US cities (Baltimore, Phoenix, and Portland) to compare development practices and provided ecosystem services. Results showed that stormwater control measures are evolving from techno-centric, singular focused infrastructure toward multifunctional green infrastructure. The trajectory toward this transition varied for each city.

Keywords: Governance; Ecosystem Services

McClintock, N., Mahmoudi, D., Simpson, M., & Santos, J. P. (2016). Socio-spatial differentiation in the Sustainable City: A mixed-methods assessment of residential gardens in metropolitan Portland, Oregon, USA. Landscape and Urban Planning, 148: 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2015.12.008

COMING SOON!

Meerow, S. (2020). The politics of multifunctional green infrastructure planning in New York City. Cities, 100: 102621. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2020.102621

To understand the divide between green infrastructure planning and performance, the authors interviewed stakeholders about green infrastructure benefits (stormwater management, social vulnerability, accessibility, air quality, urban heat island effect, landscape connectivity) and conducted a spatial multi-criteria analysis to identify strategic green infrastructure sites in New York City. It is found that green infrastructure is commonly placed based on stormwater management criteria rather than other ecosystem services. Locations chosen for stormwater management are seen to also reduce the urban heat island effect and improve air quality, indicating at least some multifunctionality.

Keywords: SETS; Ecosystem Services

 

Meerow, S., Helmrich, A., Andrade, R., & Larson, K. (2021). How do heat and flooding risk drive residential green infrastructure implementation in Phoenix, Arizona? Urban Ecosystems. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-020-01088-x

While green infrastructure implementation is increasing, there are challenges surrounding adoption on private property, so this study examines the adoption of green infrastructure on private property in Phoenix, AZ as influenced by stormwater management and heat mitigation. While residents are generally aware of their flood and heat risks, this does not transfer to green infrastructure implementation; households are likely constrained by income and home ownership to implement such practices. Previous flood damage is a predictor of stormwater infrastructure implementation, but heat experiences did not impact planting vegetation.

Keywords: Ecosystem Services

 

Meerow, S., & Newell, J. P. (2017). Spatial planning for multifunctional green infrastructure: Growing resilience in Detroit. Landscape and Urban Planning, 159: 62–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2016.10.005

A ‘Green Infrastructure Spatial Planning’ model is created to locate hotspots in Detroit, MI for green infrastructure implementation based on six criteria: 1) stormwater management; 2) social vulnerability; 3) green space; 4) air quality; 5) urban heat island amelioration; and 6) landscape connectivity. The analysis shows that existing green infrastructure projects are not strategically located. Notably, the model provides a tool for infrastructure managers to assess socio-economic and environmental benefits in addition to traditional stormwater management criteria.

Keywords: SETS; Ecosystem Services; Planning & Design

 

Meerow, S., Newell, J. P., & Stults, M. (2016). Defining urban resilience: A review. Landscape and Urban Planning, 147:38–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2015.11.011

The authors review urban resilience literature and seek to define the term based on existing definitions. They identify six tensions in urban resilience literature including the definition of urban; defining system equilibrium; balancing positive, neutral, and negative aspects of resilience; tools for systemic change; clarification of adaptation; and scale. Ultimately, the authors propose the following definition: “Urban resilience refers to the ability of an urban system-and all its constituent socio-ecological and socio-technical networks across temporal and spatial scales-to maintain or rapidly return to desired functions in the face of a disturbance, to adapt to change, and to quickly transform systems that limit current or future adaptive capacity.” 

Keywords: Sustainability & Resilience

 

Mell, I. C. (2013). Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail? Examining the “green” of Green Infrastructure development. Local Environment, 18(2): 152–166. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2012.719019

Differences in GI perceptions across countries and stakeholders are discussed. The paper explores two different dynamics in GI investments: investing in visibly green projects versus infrastructure projects with a sustainable objective.

Keywords: SETS; Ecosystem Services

Mell, I. C. (2014). Aligning fragmented planning structures through a green infrastructure approach to urban development in the UK and USA. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 13(4): 612–620. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2014.07.007

COMING SOON!

Mell, I., & Clement, S. (2020). Progressing Green Infrastructure planning: understanding its scalar, temporal, geo-spatial and disciplinary evolution. Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, 38(6): 449–463. https://doi.org/10.1080/14615517.2019.1617517

This is a paper that deepens the conceptualization of “green infrastructure” and the diversity of planning activities that it is applied to. The authors propose four axes -- temporal, geographic, scalar, and disciplinary-- along which concepts of green infrastructure exhibit variation and have developed over time. The authors use the concept to assess how the impacts of green infrastructure are assessed and how disciplinary mentalities affect expectations of assessment.

Keywords: Governance; Planning & Design

 

Merriman, L. S., Moore, T. L. C., Wang, J. W., Osmond, D. L., Al-Rubaei, A. M., Smolek, A. P., Blecken, G. T., Viklander, M., & Hunt, W. F. (2017). Evaluation of factors affecting soil carbon sequestration services of stormwater wet retention ponds in varying climate zones. Science of the Total Environment, 583: 133–141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.01.040

Carbon sequestration (>75 g m-2 yr-1) can be achieved in shallow water and temporary inundation zones found along the edges of young ponds (i.e., <25 years old). Presence of littoral shelf vegetation drives soil carbon sequestration. Increased rainfall and longer growing seasons (more vegetative growth) enhance carbon sequestration over microbial degradation (driven by higher temperatures).

Keywords: Ecosystem Services; Planning & Design

Metson, Geneviève S., David M. Iwaniec, Lawrence A. Baker, Elena M. Bennett, Daniel L. Childers, Dana Cordell, Nancy B. Grimm, J. Morgan Grove, Daniel A. Nidzgorski, and Stuart White. “Urban Phosphorus Sustainability: Systemically Incorporating Social, Ecological, and Technological Factors into Phosphorus Flow Analysis.” Environmental Science & Policy 47 (March 1, 2015): 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2014.10.005.

A review of phosphorus substance flow analyses in 18 cities around the world through a social, ecological and technological lens to understand understudied drivers of urban phosphorus cycling. The goal of this study is to bridge the gap between scientific understanding and policy/management changes. Identified driving factors were then categorized as 1) biophysical situation, 2) infrastructure and land use, 3) market and capital availability, 4) knowledge and access to information, 5) governance and actors, 6) government and regulation, 7) cultural norms and preferences, and 8) future priorities and plans. 

Keywords: SETS

Mitchell, R., & Popham, F. (2008). Effect of exposure to natural environment on health inequalities: an observational population study. The Lancet, 372(9650): 1655–1660. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61689-X

Green spaces are suggested to impact human health and well-being, and this study hypothesizes that low-income households with access to green space experience less health disparity than low-income households without access to green spaces in England. Their statistical study supported this hypothesis, and the authors postulate that access to  green space may help address socioeconomic health inequalities.  

Keywords: Human Health

Mobini, Shifteh, Per Becker, Rolf Larsson, and Ronny Berndtsson. “Systemic Inequity in Urban Flood Exposure and Damage Compensation.” Water 12, no. 11 (November 2020): 3152. https://doi.org/10.3390/w12113152.

This paper outlines the damage compensation claim process in Sweden and discusses the inequities in urban flood exposure. All damages resulting from drainage failures can be claimed directly from the municipal water and wastewater utility or with the assistance of a insurance provider, and there is no separate flood insurance coverage that is required. Examining the 1959 claims available in the utility database for Malmö, Sweden, it was found that properties connected to the combined sewer system (only 30% of properties) are four times as likely to make claims for flood damage than those properties connected to the separated sewer system. Flood damage claims for properties connected to combined sewer systems are also approved half as often as those for properties connected to separated sewer systems. This is because the legal responsibility of the utility is only to drain the rainfall of the 10-year design storm; the utility has the legal responsibility to drain rainfall from any size storm in the case of separated sewer systems. This systemic inequity in flood exposure could be mitigated by installing check valves to prevent sewer backflows on properties connected to combined sewers, but that would result in water backing up elsewhere. Resolving these inequities is further complicated by the fact that most property owners are not aware of which kind of sewer system they are connected to.

Keywords: Social Justice; Governance

 

Moore, J. W. (2015). Capitalism in the web of life: ecology and the accumulation of capital. In Verso.

COMING SOON!

 

Monteiro, Renato, José C. Ferreira, and Paula Antunes. “Green Infrastructure Planning Principles: An Integrated Literature Review.” Land 9, no. 12 (December 2020): 525. https://doi.org/10.3390/land9120525.

This paper begins with a history of green infrastructure under various ideologies, movements, and names. Then, an integrative literature review was conducted to identify the key principles that should be considered in green infrastructure planning. Out of 104 articles reviewed, the most common principles that were not self-evident were: 1) connectivity, 2) multifunctionality, 3) applicability, 4) integration, 5) diversity, 6) multiscale, 7) governance, and 8) continuity.

Keywords: Planning & Design

Mullenbach, L. E., & Baker, B. L. (2020). Environmental Justice, Gentrification, and Leisure: A Systematic Review and Opportunities for the Future. Leisure Sciences, 42(5–6), 430–447. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2018.1458261

A literature review on the effect of leisure spaces such as parks, green spaces, and other public areas on environmental gentrification was conducted. Content analysis revealed six themes in relation to causes and outcomes of gentrification: effects of policies and city initiatives, positive outcomes, sustainability agenda as a façade, community involvement for just redevelopment, “just green enough” as a potential attenuation strategy, methods and disciplinary perspectives result in different findings. Research questions and directions for future exploration were proposed.

Keywords: Social Justice; Governance; Sustainability & Resilience

 

Nelson, D. R., Bledsoe, B. P., & Marshall Shepherd, J. (2020). From hubris to humility: Transcending original sin in managing hydroclimatic risk. Anthropocene, 30, 100239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ancene.2020.100239

As changing climate exposes people to increased risk from water-related disasters, humans' ability to manage this risk through conventional infrastructure and modeling falls short. This interdisciplinary team of authors describe the underlying ways our current approaches fall short and offer a model for humility-based management of hydroclimatic risk based on the principles Humans as part of nature, Engineering a dynamic nature, and Acknowledging complexity.

Keywords: SETS; Sustainability & Resilience; Planning & Design

Nesshöver, C., Assmuth, T., Irvine, K. N., Rusch, G. M., Waylen, K. A., Delbaere, B., Haase, D., Jones-Walters, L., Keune, H., Kovacs, E., Krauze, K., Külvik, M., Rey, F., van Dijk, J., Vistad, O. I., Wilkinson, M. E., & Wittmer, H. (2017). The science, policy and practice of nature-based solutions: An interdisciplinary perspective. In Science of the Total Environment (Vol. 579, pp. 1215–1227). Elsevier B.V. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.11.106

COMING SOON!

 

Netusil, Noelwah R., Maya Jarrad, and Klaus Moeltner. “Research Note: The Effect of Stream Restoration Project Attributes on Property Sale Prices.” Landscape and Urban Planning 185 (May 1, 2019): 158–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2019.02.002.

COMING SOON!

 

Newell, J. P., Cousins, J. J., & Baka, J. (2017). Political-industrial ecology: An introduction. Geoforum, 85(August), 319–323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2017.07.024

COMING SOON!

Norton, B. A., Coutts, A. M., Livesley, S. J., Harris, R. J., Hunter, A. M., & Williams, N. S. G. (2015). Planning for cooler cities: A framework to prioritise green infrastructure to mitigate high temperatures in urban landscapes. Landscape and Urban Planning, 134, 127–138. https://doi.org/10/gdwrxb

COMING SOON!

Osberghaus, Daniel. “Poorly Adapted but Nothing to Lose? A Study on the Flood Risk – Income Relationship with a Focus on Low-Income Households.” Climate Risk Management 31 (January 1, 2021): 100268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crm.2020.100268.

The risk a household experiences from flooding is a combination of their exposure, vulnerability, and coping capacity, and it is unclear how this risk is experienced among socio-economic conditions. Using survey data from Germany, this study calculated the integrated flood risk across income levels and found that absolute monetary risk increased with income (mainly because the value of assets increased). However, monetary risk as a proportion of income was much higher for low-income households, highlighting the need for public policy that targets and protects these residents.

Keywords: Social Justice; Governance; Sustainability & Resilience

 

Oscilowicz, E., Honey-Rosés, J., Anguelovski, I., Triguero-Mas, M., & Cole, H. (2020). Young Families and Children in Gentrifying Neighbourhoods: How Gentrification Reshapes Use and Perception of Green Play Spaces. Local Environment, 25(10): 765–86. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2020.1835849.

Green gentrification reduces access to green amenities for socio-economically disadvantaged groups. This study compares two communities in Barcelona that are experiencing gentrification. The first, La Ribera, is in advanced stages of gentrification while the second, Poblenou, is in early stages of gentrification. The study found that families in Poblenou viewed green amenities more favorably than families in La Ribera. This suggests that neighborhood gains from green amenities may be short-lived as fear of displacement rises.

Keywords: Social Justice; Planning & Design

 

Pagliacci, Francesco, Edi Defrancesco, Francesco Bettella, and Vincenzo D’Agostino. “Mitigation of Urban Pluvial Flooding: What Drives Residents’ Willingness to Implement Green or Grey Stormwater Infrastructures on Their Property?” Water 12, no. 11 (November 2020): 3069. https://doi.org/10.3390/w12113069.

Despite frequent and relatively costly pluvial (rainfall-derived, as opposed to river-derived) flooding, there is little stormwater infrastructure in the Veneto Region of Italy. Survey results demonstrate that a minority of residents are willing to implement small scale stormwater infrastructure on their property, and that willingness to install gray infrastructure (i.e., engineering solutions without vegetation, such as sump pumps, rain barrels, flood walls, etc.) is driven by the perceived threat from rainfall-driven flooding and their past experiences of flooding. Willingness to implement small-scale green infrastructure (in addition to gray, less than one-quarter of respondents) was driven by the same factors together with residents’ awareness of the efficacy of green infrastructure in reducing risk and demographic factors of age and education level (with older and more educated people less likely to implement GI). As such, the authors suggest increasing the information available about GI can help reduce barriers to small scale implementation on private property.

Keywords: Governance; Planning & Design

 

Pedersen Zari, M., & Zari, M. P. (2018). Incorporating biomimicry into regenerative design. Regenerative Urban Design and Ecosystem Biomimicry, 2018, 16–43. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315114330-2

This book chapter introduces the concept of biomimicry, the mimicking of nature and its processes in design, and discusses related terms, including bio-utilization which is ‘the act of using living organisms in human systems.’ Biomimicry is often promoted as a design tool to increase sustainability; however, biomimicry is not inherently more sustainable than other design methodologies. 

Keywords: Sustainability & Resilience

Penniman, L. (2018). Farming while Black: Soul Fire Farm’s practical guide to liberation on the land. In Chelsea Green Publishing.

COMING SOON!

Qi, Jingyi, and Nicole Barclay. 2021. Social Barriers and the Hiatus from Successful Green Stormwater Infrastructure Implementation across the US. Hydrology, 8(1): 10. https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology8010010.

The paper reviews studies utilizing agent-based modelling approaches for decision-making in green stormwater infrastructure to identify social barriers of implementation. Ultimately, the authors advocate for governance transformation, public engagement, and awareness of demographic constraints to address social barriers. The authors recognize the complexity of multi-criteria decision-making and encourage further research in this process for innovative strategies of water infrastructure systems.

Keywords: Governance; Sustainability & Resilience; Planning & Design

 

Ratnadiwakara, D. & Venugopal, B. (2020). Do Areas Affected by Flood Disasters Attract Lower-Income and Less Creditworthy Homeowners? Journal of Housing Research, 29(1): S121–43. https://doi.org/10.1080/10527001.2020.1840246.

This study finds that homeowners in repetitive flood zones are more likely to be low-income households and more likely to be less creditworthy. This is indicative of gentrification as affluent households retreat. Creditworthiness may be impacted by either the households’ general creditworthiness, or the household may be inhibited by supplemental expenses of living in flood zones (e.g., flood insurance). It is also found that lenders will charge higher interests, to lower risks, on mortgages in areas following a flood event.

Keywords: Social Justice

 

Tamsen, R., Mason, L., & Ekenga, C. (2020). Adapting to Climate Change in the Upper Mississippi River Basin: Exploring Stakeholder Perspectives on River System Management and Flood Risk Reduction. Environmental Health Insights, 14: 1178630220984153. https://doi.org/10.1177/1178630220984153.

The authors interviewed eight different stakeholder groups of the Upper Mississippi River Basin, an area vulnerable to increased flooding risks due to climate change. They had five major takeaways: 1) River flooding is a unique experience (as compared to coastal flooding); 2) River flooding is regional and, therefore, requires a similarly-scaled response; 3) Local actors are constrained by access to resources; 4) Differentiated responsibility is difficult to coordinate response and recovery; and 5) varying objectives of stakeholders makes cooperative flood management difficult. 

Keywords: Governance

 

Redman, C. L., & Miller, T. R. (2015). The Technosphere and Earth Stewardship (pp. 269–279). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12133-8_17

Building on conceptual frameworks of Socio-ecological systems (SES) and Coupled Human and Natural Systems (CHANS), the authors argue that infrastructure is essential to recognize as third, equal organizing force (SETS: Social - Ecological - Technological Systems). They identify the intellectual misalignment between those who study SES, and those who study infrastructure as a major gap that needs to be bridged in order have effective transdisciplinary collaboration. This should be done not through attempting to find a unitary overarching conceptual framework, but by embracing plurality and understanding interactions between components, and contexts for resilience or vulnerability.

Keywords: SETS

 

Reisinger, A. J., Woytowitz, E., Majcher, E., Rosi, E. J., Belt, K. T., Duncan, J. M., Kaushal, S. S., & Groffman, P. M. (2019). Changes in long‐term water quality of Baltimore streams are associated with both gray and green infrastructure. Limnology and Oceanography, 64(S1), S60–S76. https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.10947

Repairing green and grey infrastructure can lead to improvements in nutrient export. Green infrastructure like retention and detention ponds, rain gardens, grassed swales, green roofs, and porous pavement increases basin storage and drainage area treated which promotes the sedimentation of particulate phosphorus. Sanitary sewer overflows increase nitrogen and phosphorus exports. Annual loads and flow weighted concentration of nutrients, chloride, and sulfate showed similar long-term trend significance meaning that reductions in runoff volume will improve water quality.  

Keywords: Planning & Design

Albro, S.L. (2019). Vacant to Vibrant: Creating Successful Green Infrastructure Networks. Washington, D.C., Island Press

A collection of case studies from Vacant to Vibrant project that show the transformation process of vacant lots into green spaces with multiple socio-ecological benefits.

Keywords: Ecosystem Services; Sustainability & Resilience; Planning & Design

Rigolon, Alessandro, Samuel J. Keith, Brandon Harris, Lauren E. Mullenbach, Lincoln R. Larson, and Jaclyn Rushing. “More than ‘Just Green Enough’: Helping Park Professionals Achieve Equitable Greening and Limit Environmental Gentrification.” Journal of Park & Recreation Administration 38, no. 3 (June 2, 2020): 29–54. https://doi.org/10.18666/JPRA-2019-9654.

COMING SOON!

Rigolon, A., & Németh, J. (2018). “We’re not in the business of housing:” Environmental gentrification and the nonprofitization of green infrastructure projects. Cities, 81(December 2017), 71–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2018.03.016

The implementation of green spaces is causing ‘environmental gentrification’ around the world. This article looks at a case study in Chicago, where delegation of the 606 Trail planning process to a nonprofit led to discombobulated efforts to preserve affordable housing. The nonprofit did not have the capacity to address issues of housing, and the city stated they did not have authority over the project. The authors advocate for leaders to challenge environmental gentrification in the planning process by promoting cross-sectoral municipal planning efforts and nonprofit coalitions. 

Keywords: Social Justice

Rigolon, Alessandro, William P. Stewart, and Paul H. Gobster. “What Predicts the Demand and Sale of Vacant Public Properties? Urban Greening and Gentrification in Chicago.” Cities 107 (December 1, 2020): 102948. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2020.102948.

COMING SOON!

Robin, E. & Castán Broto, V. (2020). Towards a Postcolonial Perspective on Climate Urbanism. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research.https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.12981.

COMING SOON!

 

Roy A (2005) Urban Informality: Toward an Epistemology of Planning. J Am Plan Assoc 71:147–158. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944360508976689

COMING SOON!

 

dos Santos, Maria Fernanda Nóbrega, Ademir Paceli Barbassa, and Anaí Floriano Vasconcelos. “Low Impact Development Strategies for a Low-Income Settlement: Balancing Flood Protection and Life Cycle Costs in Brazil.” Sustainable Cities and Society, December 5, 2020, 102650. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2020.102650.

A watershed-scale modeling assessment comparing low-impact-development, injection-well, and business-as-usual stormwater management alternatives in a low-income development of São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil. The primary motivator for this study was the absence of region-specific stormwater management guidelines for a tropical savannah biome. Evaluating 30-year lifecycle costs required many assumptions to be made because region-specific operation and maintenance costs were also not available. Optimistic and pessimistic maintenance requirements were both evaluated to establish a likely range. The injection well scenario was found to have the highest overall costs, whereas the low impact development approach had lower upfront costs and higher lifecycle costs, particularly when maintenance needs were pessimistic. Although business as usual may be lower cost over its lifespan in some cases, it managed substantially less stormwater than either of the other scenarios.

Keywords: Planning & Design

Shi, Linda. “Beyond Flood Risk Reduction: How Can Green Infrastructure Advance Both Social Justice and Regional Impact?” Socio-Ecological Practice Research 2, no. 4 (December 1, 2020): 311–20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42532-020-00065-0.

This critical essay discusses how to reconcile the need for small, distributed green infrastructure with the need for large, centralized green infrastructure from the perspectives of flood risk reduction and social justice. With limited external funding, most municipalities depend on tax revenue and other traditional funding sources to finance green infrastructure investments. Therefore, relocating residents to improve flood resiliency often means reducing the capacity to generate new revenue. The contradicting priorities of needing to protect cities and needing to sustain them economically are further complicated by the fact that green infrastructural investments are closely linked with higher land values, gentrification, and community displacement. This interaction results in the economic pressure to displace low-income housing in order to create green infrastructure to protect high-income housing. A clear gap exists between the imagination for new regional green infrastructure and the capacity to support and implement it in an equitable and just manner.

Keywords: Planning & Design; Sustainability & Resilience

 

Shi, Linda, Eric Chu, Isabelle Anguelovski, Alexander Aylett, Jessica Debats, Kian Goh, Todd Schenk, et al. “Roadmap towards Justice in Urban Climate Adaptation Research.” Nature Climate Change 6, no. 2 (February 2016): 131–37. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2841.

Much as vulnerability to climate change is inversely distributed according to responsibility for climate change, the ability to prepare for, adapt to, research, and make decisions about climate change are also inequitably distributed. The discussion around climate change resilience has largely focused on pursuing universal benefits but has neglected the important justice component of addressing systemic inequities, harms, obstacles, and vulnerabilities targeting marginalized communities. Only a small number city climate change adaptation efforts around the world involve partnering with local community organizations, and organizing efforts do not exist on the necessary spatial scales for international support. In summation, this article identifies four major research needs for urban climate adaptation justice: 1) broadening participation in urban adaptation planning, 2) catalyzing adaptation planning across cities, 3) scaling adaptation justice through multilevel and multi-scalar governance, and 4) designing for spatial justice. Additionally, this article lists four ways in which adaptation planning approaches can worsen existing urban inequality and injustice: 1) the absence of key participants in adaptation planning processes to advocate for the interests of disadvantages communities, 2) the lack of adaptation planning capacities in many cities that most need it, 3) the lack of intergovernmental frameworks that support adaptation planning at the regional and metropolitan scales, and 4) the divide between theorizing justice n academia and implementing adaptation interventions across physical designs and infrastructure systems on the ground. And finally, this article calls for serious consideration to be given to the fundamental, systemic changes that need to occur in the name of procedural justice.

Keywords: SETS; Social Justice; Governance

Shields, Chloe. (2020). A False Promise of Green, Equitable Urban Growth? [Master’s thesis, University of Washington]. University of Washington Digital Library.

Tensions exist for urban planners when managing between development, social justice, and urban green infrastructure (UGI). The author uses Seattle as a case study to explore how implementation of UGI impacts equity and social justice with a focus on displacement. The author finds that capitalism constrains the ability to pursue equity, environmental protection, and development as the system will commodify value from the environment. 

Keywords: Social Justice; Sustainability & Resilience

 

Siders, A. R. (2019). Social justice implications of US managed retreat buyout programs. Climatic Change, 152(2), 239–257. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-018-2272-5

This research reviews eight coastal home buyout programs to understand how government officials make decisions about where to offer buyouts, filling a gap that has previously focused on determinants of homeowner participation in buyout programs. The authors are particularly interested in equity implications of climate adaptation policies in communities vulnerable to sea level rise. They find that investing in flood-protection infrastructure according to cost-benefit analyses favors protecting higher-income (and more likely White) communities while buying out and displacing lower-income communities.

Keywords: Social Justice, Sustainability & Resilience

Simpson, L. (2008). Lighting the eighth fire: the liberation, resurgence, and protection of Indigenous Nations. In Arbeiter Ring Pub.

COMING SOON!

Sinnett, D., Smith, N., & Burgess, S. (Eds.). (2016). Handbook on Green Infrastructure. https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/usd/handbook-on-green-infrastructure-9781783473991.html

A handbook provides an overview on how to design and implement green infrastructure in the urban environment across different spatial scales. 

Keywords: Ecosystem Services; Sustainability & Resilience; Planning & Design

Smith, A. (2016). Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy. In Color of Violence (pp. 66–73). Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822373445-007

COMING SOON!

 

Smith, L. T. (2012). Decolonizing methodologies: research and indigenous peoples. In Zed Books.

COMING SOON!

 

Solnit, R. (2016). Hope in the dark: untold histories, wild possibilities. In Haymart Books.

COMING SOON!

Stanford, B., Zavaleta, E., & Millard-Ball, A. (2018). Where and Why Does Restoration Happen? Ecological and Sociopolitical Influences on Stream Restoration in Coastal California. Biological Conservation, 221: 219–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2018.03.016.

Stream restoration along the California coast (United States) where concentrated in a) “sub-catchments with water quality impairment, high population density, high pro-environmental voting, and a highly educated, wealthy, non-Hispanic white population” and/or b) “higher native fish richness.” This indicates disparities in conservation and restoration in less-affluent areas, and the authors encourage further study on this topic. 

Keywords: Social Justice; Sustainability & Resilience

 

Stoner, Alexander M. (2020). Things Are Getting Worse on Our Way to Catastrophe: Neoliberal Environmentalism, Repressive Desublimation, and the Autonomous Ecoconsumer. Critical Sociology: 0896920520958099. https://doi.org/10.1177/0896920520958099.

Neoliberalism is a social movement in which individuals attempt to save the environment through capitalism. This takes the form of market pressures that created "green" and "environmentally friendly" options. Environmental degradation, however, has actually accelerated during this period. Within the neoliberal framework, the solution to environmental protection is private ownership, and environmental degradation is a result of failure to properly assign value to environmental capital. The blame for environmental degradation (and the search for solutions) is placed on individual actions instead of on the institutional actions that are ultimately responsible. Environmental government regulation in affluent nations improves the local environment but, in actuality, only transports the environmental degradation to other nations with fewer environmental protections. The concept of recycling is used as an illustration of how individuals value and engage in this behavior without acknowledging the true root of the waste issue which is the production of materials that eventually become waste. Reducing production would reduce waste more efficiently than attempting to recycle materials that are largely not recyclable. Instead of morality, environmentally friendly behavior is guided by personal satisfaction from participating in the neoliberal market (e.g., buying "green"). Thus, the belief that good is being done becomes more real to consumers than finding out whether good truly results from the actions taken.

Keywords: Social Justice; Governance

 

Taguchi, V. J., Weiss, P. T., Gulliver, J. S., Klein, M. R., Hozalski, R. M., Baker, L. A., Finlay, J. C., Keeler, B. L., & Nieber, J. L. (2020). It Is Not Easy Being Green: Recognizing Unintended Consequences of Green Stormwater Infrastructure. https://doi.org/10.3390/w12020522

This review of urban green stormwater infrastructure literature summarizes the ecosystem services and disservices of urban trees, stormwater ponds, filtration practices, infiltration practices, rain gardens, and green roofs. The paper examines various aspects of each practice type and the field of stormwater management as a whole using physical, chemical, and social lenses. Key findings are incorporated into a holistic decision-making framework for equitable and effective design, installation, and maintenance of urban green stormwater infrastructure.

Keywords: Ecosystem Services; Planning & Design

 

Temper, L., Walter, M., Rodriguez, I., Kothari, A., & Turhan, E. (2018). A perspective on radical transformations to sustainability: resistances, movements and alternatives. Sustainability Science, 13(3), 747–764. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-018-0543-8

Based on the three case studies, a conceptual framework on the radical transformation towards sustainability is suggested. Through the lens of environmental justice, a focus on productive conflict, resistance to structures of power, and radical alternatives is recommended. Authors review forms or power and provide examples on how they can be influenced; and discuss the dimensions and scales of transformations.

Keywords: Social Justice; Governance; Sustainability & Resilience

 

The Royal Society. (2014). Resilience to extreme weather. London, UK. Retrieved from royalsociety.org/resilience

This guidebook assesses strategies for resilience and outlines locations around the world where population densities will be most vulnerable to floods, droughts, and heatwaves. Recommendations are provided for defensive measures that are both engineered and natural like preserving green space as opposed to restoring developed land to green space. Building resilience at multiple scales of implementation requires planning, investment, financial valuation, and proper metrics and definitions. Several case studies are presented.

Keywords: Sustainability & Resilience; Planning & Design

Tzoulas, K., Korpela, K., Venn, S., Yli-Pelkonen, V., Kaźmierczak, A., Niemela, J., & James, P. (2007). Promoting ecosystem and human health in urban areas using Green Infrastructure: A literature review. In Landscape and Urban Planning (Vol. 81, Issue 3, pp. 167–178). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2007.02.001

A conceptual framework on the relationships between the green infrastructure, human, and ecosystem health has been developed through reviewing scientific literature on the associations between these themes. The objective of the framework is to be useful for interdisciplinary research and to encourage dialogue, interaction and integration among disciplines on a variety of scales. 

Keywords: Ecosystem Services, Human Health  

 

Van Oijstaeijen, W., Van Passel, S., & Cools, J. (2020). Urban green infrastructure: A review on valuation toolkits from an urban planning perspective. Journal of Environmental Management, 267(April), 110603. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110603

A review of existing GI valuation toolkits found that many lack economic evaluation, life-span assessment, interdependencies between GI and ecosystem services, and do not incorporate uncertainty. Taking these factors into account could improve their usefulness. In addition, such toolkits would benefit from actively engaging potential users, such local authorities, to provide the most useful tool.

Keywords: Ecosystem Services; Planning & Design

Walia, H. (2013). Undoing border imperialism. In AK Press.

COMING SOON!

 

Whyte, K. (2017). Indigenous climate change studies: Indigenizing futures, decolonizing the anthropocene. English Language Notes, 55(1–2), 153–162. https://doi.org/10.1215/00138282-55.1-2.153

An Indigenous scholar reflects on the field of Indigenous climate change studies and describes the three central themes that comprise it: 1) Anthropogenic climate change is an intensification of environmental change imposed on Indigenous peoples by colonialism, 2) Renewing Indigenous knowledges, such as traditional ecological knowledge, can bring together Indigenous communities to strengthen their own self-determined planning for climate change, and 3) Indigenous peoples often imagine climate change futures from their perspectives as societies with deep collective histories of having to be well-organized to adapt to environmental change and as societies who must reckon with the disruptions of historic and ongoing practices of colonialism, capitalism, and industrialization. Indigenous peoples around the world are uniquely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change due to their proximity to natural systems. The result of climatic displacement would be only the latest violent act in a long history of relocation and oppression. On the other hand, the close bonds between Indigenous communities and natural cycles mean that they are uniquely situated to observe disruptions in longstanding patterns. 

Keywords: Social Justice

Wijsman, K., & Feagan, M. (2019). Rethinking knowledge systems for urban resilience: Feminist and decolonial contributions to just transformations. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2019.04.017

Knowledge systems for urban resilience are rapidly emerging; however, urbanization has been uneven (e.g., patriarchal, colonial, racial, and capitalist influences), leading to the exclusion of numerous perspectives. The authors examine feminist and decolonial analysis of knowledge practices and recommend better engagement with critical social sciences through “centering justice and transgression, reflexive research practices, and thinking historically,” toward advancing resilience by reframing knowledge systems.

Keywords: Social Justice; Sustainability & Resilience

Wolff, Manuel, Annegret Haase, Dagmar Haase, and Nadja Kabisch. “The Impact of Urban Regrowth on the Built Environment.” Urban Studies 54, no. 12 (September 1, 2017): 2683–2700. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098016658231.

A study of European cities experiencing a sudden trend of population growth following a prolonged trend of population decline. This change in population dynamics is termed regrowth. In this article, the German city of Leipzig is used as a case study. During periods of population decline, population density counterintuitively increased as vacant buildings were demolished to attempt a restoration of the balance of supply and demand for housing. The resulting low-cost rental properties and urban green spaces on vacant lots attracted a new generation of young, small families. Many of these vacant green spaces have remained and become urban gardens, urban forests, or other urban green spaces as a legacy to the shrinkage that had once occurred. Eventually, the high demand for housing the city center eventually increased housing costs and resulted in population displacement due to gentrification. There is also a danger of the remaining vacant green spaces succumbing to population re-densification and becoming new housing construction. 

Keywords: Planning & Design

Woods, C. (2017). Development Drowned and Reborn (L. Pulido & J. T. Camp (Eds.)). https://ugapress.org/book/9780820350929/development-drowned-and-reborn/

COMING SOON!

Wright, H. (2011). Understanding green infrastructure: The development of a contested concept in England. Local Environment, 16(10), 1003–1019. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2011.631993

The concept of “green infrastructure” has been contested for having lack of clarity by the practitioners in the UK. The author argues that the concept is both rooted in theory and policy depending on the actors involved and their objectives. The concept is complex, ambiguous and political and continues to evolve thus a constrained definition can lead to its unsuitability. Its ambiguity can help to initiate productive dialogue between the involved parties. Caution must be exercised since socio-economic functions of green infrastructure are often placed above the environmental.

Keywords: SETS; Ecosystem Services; Sustainability & Resilience

Yang, Hyuk, Taedong Lee, and Sirkku Juhola. (2021). The Old and the Climate Adaptation: Climate Justice, Risks, and Urban Adaptation Plan.” Sustainable Cities and Society, 67: 102755. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2021.102755.

A statistical analysis of whether cities that have adopted urban climate adaptation policies share factors that make them more vulnerable to or aware of climate change. The analysis uses data from 902 cities in 30 European countries. It was determined that cities with larger ratios of elderly residents are more likely to have adopted urban climate change adaptation policies, perhaps in response to political pressure from those residents. The same trend was not evident for other groups susceptible to health impacts who lack the same political influence (children below 5 and immigrants). Counterintuitively, cities that are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change (for example, flooding) are less likely to have adopted adaptation policies. And lastly, the involvement of a city in a climate change network or initiative correlated strongly with policy adoption whereas national initiatives had a weaker correlation with policy adoption by individual cities within that nation. In summary, the exposure of a city to the impacts of climate change or the vulnerability of its residents to related health complications do not have as great of an impact on policy adoption as do internal and external political pressure. These patterns could be problematic for the social justice of marginalized communities with little influence in policy decisions.

Keywords: Governance; Social Justice; Human Health

Yen-Kohl, E. and the Newtown Florist Club Writing Collective (2016). We’ve Been Studied to Death, We Ain’t Gotten Anything: (Re)claiming environmental knowledge production through the praxis of writing collectives. Capitalism, Nature, Socialism, 27(1): 52–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/10455752.2015.1104705

Newtown Florist Club Writing Collective is an attempt to rethink knowledge co-production between the community and university researchers with a goal to benefit the community and to represent its struggles around environmental justice, race, and politics. The collective decided to write a book representing collective and individual community voices with the community having a final decision on the project process, methodology and outcomes.

Keywords: Social Justice; Governance; Human Health

Yıldırım, B.S. (2020). Climate Justice at the Local Level. Politikon: The IAPSS Journal of Political Science, 45: 7–30. https://doi.org/10.22151/politikon.45.1.

COMING SOON!

 

Yin, Jie, Dapeng Yu, and Banggu Liao. “A City-Scale Assessment of Emergency Response Accessibility to Vulnerable Populations and Facilities under Normal and Pluvial Flood Conditions for Shanghai, China.” Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science, November 19, 2020, 2399808320971304. https://doi.org/10.1177/2399808320971304.

This study involved several pluvial flooding scenarios in Shanghai, China to quantify potential disruptions to emergency responder mobility. The current drainage system is only sized for 1-year recurrence events in most areas. In a 5-year event scenario, ponding remains shallow and passable by emergency vehicles owing in part to the flat topography and subsequent low flow velocities. Impassable roads greatly increase under 20-year and 100-year rainfall scenarios. Emergency service response times are not greatly affected by even 20-year rainfalls beyond what could be expected of heavy traffic conditions. However, emergency service responses are greatly inhibited by flooding from 100-year rainfalls, and these delays can be further compounded by less than ideal traffic conditions. True delays would likely be much greater, however, because the computational model assumes that emergency responders know the locations and conditions of all roads along their routes. Young children who may require more emergency services than healthy adults face heightened risks because younger families are more likely to live in newer sections of the city with more sparsely established emergency responder stations compared to more mature sections of the city where older individuals with even greater health needs are likely to live. 

Keywords: Human Health

 

Young, R. F., & McPherson, E. G. (2013). Governing metropolitan green infrastructure in the United States. Landscape and Urban Planning, 109(1), 67–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2012.09.004

COMING SOON!

 

Yu, D. J., Schoon, M. L., Hawes, J. K., Lee, S., Park, J., Rao, P. S. C., Siebeneck, L. K., & Ukkusuri, S. V. (2020). Toward General Principles for Resilience Engineering. Risk Analysis, 40(8), 1509–1537. https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.13494

COMING SOON!

 

Zeinali, M., Zmanzad-Ghavidel, S., Mehri, Y., & Mohammad Azamathulla, H. (2021). Interaction of Hydro-Socio-Technology-Knowledge Indicators in Integrated Water Resources Management Using Soft-Computing Techniques. Water Supply, 21(1):470-491. https://doi.org/10.2166/ws.2020.327.

COMING SOON!

Zhou, W., Pickett, S.T.A., & McPhearson, T. (2021). Conceptual frameworks facilitate integration for transdisciplinary urban science. npj Urban Sustainability, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-020-00011-9

The authors present the metacity concept as a way to navigate complexity, diffuseness, connectivity, and diversity in cities utilizing 5 frameworks: SETS, disturbance, resilience, dynamic heterogeneity, and continuum of urbanity. They explore the application of the metacity concept through an urban green infrastructure example.

Keywords: SETS, Sustainability & Resilience

 

Ziter, C. D., Pedersen, E. J., Kucharik, C. J., & Turner, M. G. (2019). Scale-dependent interactions between tree canopy cover and impervious surfaces reduce daytime urban heat during summer. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1817561116

Investigation of the relationships between the percentage of tree canopy and impervious surfaces and day- and night-time air temperature on a range of spatial scales between 10 and 90m radii for the city of Madison, WI. Results showed that increased percentage of tree cover was effective in decreasing daytime air temperature in a non-linear fashion. Cooling magnitude was most visible at a city block scale. Night-time air temperature was mostly influenced by the percentage of the impervious surfaces. 

Keywords: Ecosystem Services, Sustainability & Resilience

Zuniga-Teran, A. A., Gerlak, A. K., Mayer, B., Evans, T. P., & Lansey, K. E. (2020). Urban resilience and green infrastructure systems: Towards a multidimensional evaluation. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 44, 42–47. https://doi.org/10/ghnwhd

COMING SOON!

bottom of page