Adapting to climate change through urban green infrastructure

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (10) ◽  
pp. 704-704 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart R. Gaffin ◽  
Cynthia Rosenzweig ◽  
Angela Y. Y. Kong
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Urban Green Infrastructure

Modelling London’s Urban Green physiological responses and impacts on flood retention sustainability under climate change

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ziyan Zhang ◽  
Athanasios Paschalis ◽  
Ana Mijic
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Elevated Co2 ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Physiological Responses ◽  
Water Flooding ◽  
Natural Ecosystem ◽  
Rain Gardens ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Urban Green Infrastructure

<p>Surface water flooding is the most likely cause of flooding in London, still affecting at least 3% of the area and up to 680,000 properties. Urbanization and climate change are expected to increase the impacts of urban flooding in the near future. To mitigate such problem and provide resilient ecosystem services for Europe’s largest capital, Urban Green Infrastructure adaptations have been extensively used in the last two decades in conjunction with traditional grey infrastructure. Sustainability and efficiency of green infrastructure depend on the ability of plants to emulate the natural ecosystem water and carbon cycles in the city. Considering the expected rise in temperature, changes in rainfall patterns and intensification of the urban heat island effect, existing and planned green infrastructure solutions might be vulnerable to plant water stress. Since there will be much less space available to accommodate future changes in cities, it is extremely important to think about the system’s potential performance further ahead the construction. In this study we perform a detailed evaluation of representative London parks and rain gardens to mitigate flood risk under a changing climate. Specifically, we focus on the hydrological performance of urban raingardens (consisting exclusively of low stature plants) and urban parks (as a composite of low stature vegetation and urban forests) in London. The coupled water and carbon dynamics were evaluated using the ecohydrological model Tethys-Chloris (TeC) forced with the last generation climate change projections UKCP18. Based on our simulation we disentangle the composite effects of climate change, to plant physiological responses to elevated CO2 and changes in precipitation patterns and temperature.</p><p>Our results indicate that:</p><p>(a) Changes in weather severely affect plant efficiency during the 2<sup>nd</sup> half of the 21<sup>st</sup> century;</p><p>(b) Effectiveness of green infrastructure is strongly dependent on possible climate change outcomes;</p><p>(c) Within a certain range of plausible climate changes, for the 1<sup>st</sup> half of the 21<sup>st</sup> century positive effects of changes in climate can mostly counteract negative plant physiological responses to elevated CO2, but those negative effects gradually become dominant;</p><p>(d) Efficient and sustainable design of urban green infrastructure to mitigate flooding must consider an optimal adaptive choice of plants to offset the projected negative impacts of elevated CO2 and uncertain climate.</p>

Adapting cities for climate change through urban green infrastructure planning

Cities ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 117 ◽  
pp. 103316
Author(s):  
Reza Ramyar ◽  
Aiden Ackerman ◽  
Douglas M. Johnston
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Infrastructure Planning ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Urban Green Infrastructure

scholarly journals Close-To-Nature Heuristic Design Principles for Future Urban Green Infrastructure

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 67-79
Author(s):  
Saruhan Mosler ◽  
Peter Hobson
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Green Space ◽  
Design Principles ◽  
Urban Green Space ◽  
Systems Science ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Urban Green Infrastructure ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

The global nature-climate crisis along with a fundamental shift in world population towards cities and towns has sharpened the focus on the role of urban green infrastructure. Green infrastructure has the potential to deliver cost-effective, nature-based solutions to help mitigate problems of climate change as well as provide improved human well-being through the ecosystem services inherent in landscapes rich in biodiversity. The absence of under-pinning science, specifically complex systems science and ecosystem theory in the design and planning of urban green infrastructure, has limited the capacity of these landscapes to deliver ecosystem services and to effectively demonstrate natural resilience to the impacts of climate change. To meet future challenges of environmental uncertainty and social change, the design of urban green space should embrace an adaptive ecosystem-based approach that includes fully integrated participatory planning and implementation strategies founded on principles of close to nature science. Our article offers two models to inform green space planning: urban green space framework and sustainable urban community network. Both concepts provide the foundation for six ecosystem-based design principles. In a case study on Essex green infrastructure, UK, recommendations made by the Essex Climate Action Commission to transform land management practices are presented as examples of adopting principles of the ecosystem approach and nature-based science. Our article concludes by emphasising the importance of reconnecting society with nature in cities through close-to-nature design of urban green space to secure essential ecosystem services and to build resilience to the impacts of climate change.

Implications of climate change for managing urban green infrastructure: an Indiana, US case study

2019 ◽  
Vol 163 (4) ◽  
pp. 1967-1984 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather L Reynolds ◽  
Leslie Brandt ◽  
Burnell C Fischer ◽  
Brady S Hardiman ◽  
Donovan J Moxley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Urban Green Infrastructure

scholarly journals Urban Green Infrastructure and Green Open Spaces: An Issue of Social Fairness in Times of COVID-19 Crisis

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 10606
Author(s):  
Florian Reinwald ◽  
Daniela Haluza ◽  
Ulrike Pitha ◽  
Rosemarie Stangl
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Landscape Planning ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Open Spaces ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Urban Green Infrastructure

At the time of the restrictions and lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, it became apparent how difficult it is for city dwellers to adhere to the prescribed behavioural measures and the protective distance in densely built urban areas. Inner-city parks and green spaces were heavily used for recreational purposes and were thus periodically overcrowded. These observations highlight the need for green open spaces in urban areas, especially in exceptional situations regarding pandemics and climate-related heat periods. Green open spaces and greened buildings help cities and the population cope with the consequences of climate change and have a decisive positive effect on human health and well-being. This paper aims to outline which social issues are related to the availability of green infrastructure close to home and which health consequences need to be considered. The COVID-19 challenges could offer a chance and an opportunity to increase the resilience of cities and their inhabitants in various terms. A cross-disciplinary team of authors (public health, urban and landscape planning, landscaping and vegetation technologies science) describes and discusses challenges and opportunities that arise from this crisis for cities from an inter-disciplinary perspective, concluding that urban green infrastructure helps in two ways: to adapt to climate change and the challenges posed by COVID-19.

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