From Green Belts to Green Infrastructure? The Evolution of a New Concept in the Emerging Soft Governance of Spatial Strategies

Thomas, Kévin; Littlewood, Steve

doi:10.1080/02697451003740213

Cited by 101 publications

(95 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Approximately three-quarters of articles were published in 2010 or later (Figure 1). The objectives of the majority of articles can be grouped into: (1) the development of conceptual or operational frameworks for systemic understanding of green infrastructure use and innovation [23][24][25][26][27][28]; (2) the investigation of factors, such as policy or planning instruments and the action of stewardship groups, that influence the use and performance of green infrastructure and innovation in the field [16,17,19,[29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]; and (3) the assessment of the performance of green infrastructure in providing ecosystem services [25,[37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49] (Table 1). Exceptions to this grouping include two articles that described the spatial diffusion of green infrastructure technology [4] or defined sustainability and examined its underlying principles [50].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Socio-Ecological Factors that Influence the Adoption of Green Infrastructure

Tayouga

Gagné

2016

Sustainability

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Green infrastructure is defined as any type of infrastructure that has the purpose of lessening the burden of development on the environment and/or has the aim of providing ecosystem services, such as runoff management, air temperature reduction, carbon sequestration, and habitat provisioning. Despite these potential benefits and a recent increase in popularity, the widespread use of green infrastructure has been limited. To ascertain why this may be the case, we asked: What are the socio-ecological factors that influence the adoption of green infrastructure? To answer this question, we carried out a review of the literature. We found 32 papers addressing our research topic, three quarters of which were published since 2009. Based on the results and conclusions of the articles we reviewed, we identify six factors that influence the adoption of green infrastructure: Education, the Provision of Ecosystem Services, Financial Incentives, Coordination Among Actors, Laws and Policies, and Planning Recommendations. We present a model of the direct and indirect effects of each factor on the adoption of green infrastructure and investigate the geographic variability of factors. Our results indicate that Education, the Provision of Ecosystem Services, and Financial Incentives are the most influential factors affecting the adoption of green infrastructure because they are supported by the greatest number of articles regardless of location of study and have the greatest number of linkages with other factors and adoption in our model. We conclude with evidence-based strategies to promote the use of green infrastructure in order to create more sustainable environments.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Socio-Ecological Factors that Influence the Adoption of Green Infrastructure

Tayouga

Gagné

2016

Sustainability

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“…Deployment of the green infrastructure (GI) concept has significantly increased over the past decade (Thomas and Littlewood, 2010;Wright, 2011). While the origin of the term remains debatable (Allen, 2012;Pankhurst, 2012;Roe and Mell, 2013 Furthermore, it is widely held among such practitioners that Dr Gerry Clabby, an ecologist and FCC's Heritage Officer ii , has been the key champion of GI both within the council and in the Irish planning system more generally (author, forthcoming).…”

Section: Purpose In Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Finding Purpose in Planning

Lennon

2014

Journal of Planning Education and Research

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This article presents a novel interpretive approach to advancing knowledge of how practitioners locate purpose in their practice and how this in turn influences their practice. The approach is formulated by drawing upon and integrating the moral philosophy of Alasdair MacIntyre with the hermeneutical philosophy of Paul Ricouer. The article argues that this approach offers insight into the important role of narrative in producing self-understanding, rationalizing judgment, and justifying action. Original empirical material regarding a practitioner’s account of promoting a new planning concept is used to illustrate the elucidatory potential of the approach.

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“…The theory and application of green infrastructure (GI) has grown in depth and breadth over the past decade (Barnhill and Smardon, 2012;Comhar, 2010;Davies et al, 2006;Dunn, 2010;Kilbane, 2013;Mayer et al, 2012;Mell, 2013;Thomas and Littlewood, 2010;Wright, 2011 Attention to enhancing the multifunctional potential of sites is a key attribute differentiating the GI design philosophy from more conventional approaches focused solely on flood 'defence' or 'accommodation'. Referencing the multiple environmental, economic and community benefits that accrue from such a transformative perspective, Rouse and Bunster-Ossa (2013, 19) assert that 'these benefits derive from the multiple and overlapping functions provided across different systems -hydrology, transportation, energy, economy, and so on -that can intersect in green infrastructure'.…”

Section: The Green Infrastructure Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%