Green infrastructure

Green infrastructure for new cities A

design approach for urban environments that promotes nature as a key driver.

The approach seeks to create healthier more socially cohesive and biodiverse urban environments and a connected city ecosystem for people and wildlife that also builds in resilience measures against climate change in the form of storm, flood, heat, drought and pollution protection.

Grey Space : The City Grey space is defined as the built environment, incorporating buildings, pavement and roads. These were traditionally seen as being of limited benefit to biodiversity and were rarely ever designed with biodiversity consideration in mind.

City Threats: •Concentrated energy use leads to greater air pollution with significant impact on human health.

•Automobile exhaust produces elevated lead levels in urban air.

•Large volumes of uncollected waste create multiple health hazards.

•Urban development can magnify the risk of environmental hazards such as flash flooding.

•Pollution and physical barriers to root growth promote loss of urban tree cover.

•Animal populations are inhibited by toxic substances, vehicles, and the loss of habitat and food sources.

Green Space : lungs of the city Green infrastructure: all the urban green spaces that includes everything in cities that has vegetation , encompassing the entire working landscape in cities that serve roles such as improving air quality, flood protection and pollution control.

Urban Green Spaces

Regional parks

Local parks

Private gardens

Coastal zones

Industrial zones

Terraces, roofs

Communal green space Institutional zones

Street corridors

River corridors

The evolution of the green city The three strands of modern sustainability Patrick Geddes offered a concept of regional planning, emphasising essential connections between the city and its region.

PLACE

ENVIRONMENT

FOLK

SOCIETY

WORK

ECONOMY

Green Infrastructure : The need • Over the last 200 years a mass urbanisation has occurred, but as recently as 2007, for the first time in human history, the majority of people lived in towns and cities.

• Cities are facing far greater social, economic and environmental pressures.

• Urban spaces are inextricably linked to the environment of our planet.

• There is a compelling case for building new cities and retrofitting or expanding existing ones in ways that work in harmony with nature.

• The city can become an ecosystem that embeds nature and people as equal partners to help rebalance growing urbanisation.At present, most cities woefully fail to achieve any sort of balance between people and nature.

Green Infrastructure : The need THE NEW URBAN WORLD

SOURCE: UNFPA

Green Infrastructure : The need Planning for green infrastructure: •Cities need to upgrade and expand the green infrastructure, the interconnected system of green spaces that conserves natural ecosystem values and functions, sustains clear air and water, and provides a wide array of benefits to people and wildlife. •By planning and managing urban parks as parts of an interconnected green space system, cities can reduce flood control and storm-water management costs. Parks can also protect biological diversity and preserve essential ecological functions while serving as a place for recreation and civic engagement.

Benefits of green infrastructure The importance of green infrastructure can further be elaborated in terms of social, environmental and economical benefits.

Environmental Benefits

Economical Benefits

Social Benefits

Improves visual amenity

Increased Property Prices

Encouraging Physical Activity

Enhanced Urban Microclimate

Increased land values

Improving childhood development

Improved air quality

Faster property sales

Improved mental health

Reduced flood risk

Encouraging inward investment

Faster hospital recovery rates

Better water quality

Reduced energy cost

Improved workplace productivity

Improved biodiversity

Improved chances of gaining planning permission

Increasing social cohesion

Reduced ambient noise

Improved tourist and recreation facilities

Reduction in crime

Reducing atmospheric CO2

Lower healthcare cost

Benefits of green infrastructure Authorities/City Dwellers

Developers.

•Cleaner air •Cleaner water •Healthcare savings •Reduced flood risk •Increased biodiversity •Increased economic activity •Carbon and energy savings •Reduced costs of crime •Greater inward investment •Reduction in unused land •Reduced pressure on city Infrastructure •Reduced costs of pollutants and contaminants

•Saleability •Increased property prices •Increased land values •Inward investment opportunities •Improved prospect of gaining •planning permission

Business.

•Improved workplace •Productivity •Reduced levels of worker sickness

Land Owners.

Retailers.

•Increased attractiveness of shopping environments and high streets •Increased footfall to shopping environments

•Reduced heating and •cooling costs •Increased property value

Tourists.

•Improved visual amenity •Improved microclimate

4 vital considerations for green city

Interconnected system of parks

1

2 Parks to shape urban form

Parks to reduce public costs

3

4 Parks to protect biodiversity

1. Interconnected system of parks Creating an interconnected system of parks and open space is manifestly more beneficial than creating parks in isolation.

•It helps connect people and neighbourhoods, •Provides opportunities for exercise that can counter today's trends in obesity and adult onset diabetes •Enhances emotional well-being by bringing nature close to home.

•A network of parks can also provide pathways for wildlife moving from one isolated natural area to another.

Jim Ellis Freeway Park, Seattle, WA 98101, United States

1. Interconnected system of parks Just as it is necessary to design and construct road networks and other built infrastructure in advance of metropolitan growth, it is also important to plan and protect urban green infrastructure as a city grows.

2. Parks to shape urban form When planned as part of a system of green infrastructure, parks can help shape urban form and buffer incompatible uses.

Interconnected urban green space systems can enhance city aesthetics, help shape urban form, and improve urban quality of life.

3. Parks to reduce public costs Cities can use parks to reduce public costs for storm-water management, flood control, transportation, and other forms of built infrastructure.

When designed to include stream networks, wetlands, and other low-lying areas, a city's green space system can provide numerous storm-water management benefits, including storing, carrying, and filtering storm runoff.

Other benefits include the provision of alternative, less expensive modes of transportation.

Bellevue, Washington.

4. Parks to protect biodiversity Cities can use parks to help preserve essential ecological functions and to protect biodiversity.

When managed to maintain and restore natural ecological communities, city parks can help protect the biological diversity of local plants and animals.

When connected strategically with riparian areas, wetlands, and other urban green spaces, the ecological value can far exceed the value of any one park.

Green space for bio diversity Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life. It is a measure of the variety of organisms present in different ecosystems. •Planning for biodiversity must take the spatial requirements of species into consideration by providing sufficient habitat for them in a connected arrangement. •A spatial overview at the landscape scale is required to overcome existing fragmentation and prevent further depletion of connected features. •Many tools exist to help cities manage their biodiversity. One such tool is the City Biodiversity Index. This and many other initiatives can help cities conserve and manage their biodiversity.

Bio diversity index

Sample landscape biodiversity indicators and metrics.

Bio diversity index

Sample landscape biodiversity indicators and metrics.

Spatial scales for biodiversity parks Planning for biodiversity must take the spatial requirements of species into consideration by providing sufficient habitat for them in a connected arrangement. A spatial overview at the landscape scale is required to overcome existing fragmentation and prevent further depletion of connected features.

Wider landscape scale

Regional scale

Habitat scale

Reducing the loss of biodiversity Rich biodiversity can exist in cities.

•It is commonly assumed that cities and rich biodiversity are incompatible.

•Many cities are biodiversity rich and several are even located within globally recognized “biodiversity hotspots.”

•Some notable examples of cities with rich biodiversity are Berlin, Bonn, Brussels, Cape Town, Chicago, Curitiba, Edmonton, Frankfurt, Freiburg, Helsinki, Kolkata, Mexico City (see Figure 2.1), Montreal, Mumbai, Nagoya, New York City, São Paulo, Seattle, Singapore, Stockholm, and Vienna,

Reducing the loss of biodiversity • In Mumbai, Sanjay Gandhi National Park—known for its dense semi-evergreen forests, 280-plus species of birds, 150 species of butterflies, and 40 species of mammals, including a small population of leopards protects 104 square kilometers entirely within a megacity • Cities can identify the habitats that used to exist locally and restore them.

• Gradual enrichment or reintroduction of plant and animal species will increase the complexity of ecosystems and the services they provide.

• Planting native plants in parks, roadsides, gardens, vertical and rooftop gardens, and other such areas will diversify the environment to support native mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and insects.

• Creating small wetlands, such as ponds or marshes, will support the provision of a range of ecosystem services.

Design approach for future sustainable cities

Creating future sustainable green cities • Vertical farming may become more popular as urban populations explode and available space shrinks. • The use of roofs, vertical spaces and basements to grow arable crops could result in shorter, more environmentally friendly distribution routes, healthier diets and fresher foods.

Vertical farming

Creating future sustainable green cities • In denser city environments our public realm, streets and squares will gain an importance as vital places for people to meet, relax and socialise. • Large city trees and urban woodland will be more essential than ever to create attractive and healthy spaces with comfortable microclimates.

Squares

Creating future sustainable green cities • Green roofs, walls and façades are likely to become more prominent in cities, as we need to exploit and retrofit the layers of the city to find space for recreation and nature • These features also provide pollution mitigation, natural warming/cooling, rainfall attenuation and insulation to lower energy costs.

Green wall, roofs and facades

Creating future sustainable green cities • Spaces for larger urban populations to socially interact, keep healthy and escape—will become even more important than they are now.

• These spaces will need to be more densely tree-covered to provide vital urban cooling, shade and weather protection.

• They should incorporate or retrofit multifunctional design features like temporary floodable areas to provide climate change mitigation.

Park

Creating future sustainable green cities • Extensive green networks through the city are the aim of a green infrastructure design approach.

• Networks can be formed over time to create an encompassing “city ecosystem” that can support the sustainable movement of people, rebuild biodiversity and provide substantial climate change adaptation.

Green networks

Creating future sustainable green cities • Permeable paving and soft landscape areas will help urgently convert grey to green in future city environments.

• This is a simple technology, but a vital one to improve water absorption and slow rain water runoff.

• This will help cities cope with extreme weather events and increased precipitation whilst significantly visually improving the environment.

Permeable paving

Creating future sustainable green cities • City environments will need to be modified to design in or retrofit sustainable drainage systems within streets and city green spaces to better cope with predicted extreme weather events.

• Measures may also include temporarily floodable areas of public realm and “water roofs”, designed to hold stormwater which is often cheaper than conventional drainage systems.

Sustainable drainage system

Creating future sustainable green cities • Green bridges can retain important links in green infrastructure city networks.

• They also act to provide continuous wildlife corridors to benefit city biodiversity.

• It bring opportunities for healthier traffic-free routes and pedestrians crossings over waterways and roads.

Green bridge and corridors

Creating future sustainable green cities • Entertainment in the urban environment for citizens is very likely to move into the digital age. • Features such as interactive art installations allocated in denser urban environments will provide opportunities for social interaction, community involvement and tourism

Entertainment

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