RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE
GREENING OUR GRAY CITIES WITH NATUREBASED SOLUTIONS BY ROBERT BREARS
Cities around the world are turning to nature-based solutions to enhance resilience to climate change while creating livable spaces for their residents.
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raditionally, cities rely on gray infrastructure —pipes and drains—to move stormwater from houses, buildings, streets, roads, etc., into the nearest waterway to stop localized flooding. These systems combine with wastewater sewer systems, and all this water is led to a treatment plant before being discharged into the natural environment. In most cities, this water leads into streams and local waterways, which causes some major issues. For example, these combined systems impact water quantity and quality, are easily overwhelmed during heavy rainfall, and increase downstream flooding risks. They also transport excess stormwater into waterways, which exposes people and aquatic life to toxins, chemicals, rubbish, pollutants, oil spills, etc. Nature-Based Solutions: Blue-Green Infrastructure Cities are turning to nature-based solutions to manage water quantity and improve water quality at the same time. These solutions, commonly referred to as BlueGreen Infrastructure (BGI), are semi-natural or natural systems designed to restore the natural landscape while improving water quality and managing excess water. BGI projects come in various shapes and sizes. They range from rain gardens to green walls, green streets, and urban forests. Combined, they can manage our excess water and clean the water simultaneously, and it’s all for free because nature’s doing it for you. Multifunctionality of BGI A key aspect of BGI is multifunctionality, which means one BGI site can provide multiple benefits and serve numerous functions. For instance, a green wall can reduce stormwater runoff, improve water quality, reduce the urban heat island effect, insulate the building, and provide a habitat for species. During the warmer months, the wall can reduce cooling costs, and
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in the cooler months, it can reduce heating. BGI can also provide enhanced biodiversity in cities. It can protect your buildings and infrastructure from climate change. It can create green jobs with people getting training and education and then careers in this field. It can reduce infrastructure costs because gray infrastructure is more expensive than BGI. It also provides space for recreational and social activities. Fiscal Tools to Encourage BGI Fiscal tools are financial tools that cities can use to encourage uptake of BGI. They come in stormwater fees, grants, or subsidies, and they encourage BGI on private properties, public spaces, new developments, and retrofits. They’re easy to implement because you can tailor the fiscal instrument to the type of community you serve. They also provide an opportunity for a city to pilot small projects, and if they take off, BGI could become a citywide thing. In Berlin, they encourage businesses to incorporate BGI on the premises as part of the Berlin Strategy for Biodiversity Preservation. The city’s water utility has increased its rainwater fee to incentivize companies to provide BGI in their private premises. Raleigh, North Carolina has created the Raleigh Rainwater Rewards program, where a business or organization that implements BGI is reimbursed up to 90% of those costs for the project. The person has to put the money down first and then make the project happen, which takes the risk away, rather than having a grant that could lead to a project that fails. Non-Fiscal Tools We also have a range of non-fiscal tools to encourage BGI, such as information and awareness campaigns and fast-tracking of BGI project applications, which encourages new developments and retrofits to get BGI installed quicker than going
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