Urban Green Infrastructure in the Global South

Pauleit, Stephan; Vásquez, Aléxis; Maruthaveeran, Sreetheran; Liu, Li; Cilliers, Sarel S.

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-67650-6_5

Cited by 40 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 164 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…For future sustainability we need to better understand what ability different urban forms have for delivering these multi-functional benefits of promoting human-wellbeing, being environmentally sustainable and supporting resilience ( Grimm et al, 2008 ; Hansen et al, 2017 ). This evidence is particularly lacking from the Global South where cultural and environmental conditions make their challenges and potential solutions distinct ( Nagendra et al, 2018 ; Pauleit et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Inequalities in Wellbeing at a Neighbourhood Scale in Low-Middle-Income-Country Secondary Cities and Their Implications for Long-Term Livability

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

To ensure future sustainability, cities need to consider concepts of livability and resident wellbeing alongside environmental, economic and infrastructure development equity. The current rapid urbanization experienced in many regions is leading to sustainability challenges, but also offers the opportunity to deliver infrastructure supporting the social aspects of cities and the services that underpin them alongside economic growth. Unfortunately, evidence of what is needed to deliver urban wellbeing is largely absent from the global south. This paper contributes to filling this knowledge gap through a novel interdisciplinary mixed methods study undertaken in two rapidly changing cities (one Thai and one Kenyan) using qualitative surveys, subjective wellbeing and stress measurements, and spatial analysis of urban infrastructure distribution. We find the absence of basic infrastructure (including waste removal, water availability and quality) unsurprisingly causes significant stress for city residents. However, once these services are in place, smaller variations (inequalities) in social (crime, tenure) and environmental (noise, air quality) conditions begin to play a greater role in determining differences in subjective wellbeing across a city. Our results indicate that spending time in urban greenspaces can mitigate the stressful impacts of city living even for residents of informal neighborhoods. Our data also highlights the importance of places that enable social interactions supporting wellbeing–whether green or built. These results demonstrate the need for diversity and equity in the provision of public realm spaces to ensure social and spatial justice. These findings strengthen the need to promote long term livability in LMIC urban planning alongside economic growth, environmental sustainability, and resilience.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Inequalities in Wellbeing at a Neighbourhood Scale in Low-Middle-Income-Country Secondary Cities and Their Implications for Long-Term Livability

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The concept is often also supplemented by the term blue-green infrastructure, in recognition of the services provided by water bodies and wetlands when part of a network of UGSs [72]. This paper draws on various established definitions, incorporating elements of blue-green infrastructure, to describe green infrastructure as an interconnected, multifunctional network comprised of links and nodes constituted by natural, semi-natural and artificial blue and green spaces and systems that deliver benefits known as ecosystem services [51,67,73]. The term ecosystem services has evaded a general definition [74], but is defined in this paper as the benefits all living species (humans in particular) derive, directly or indirectly, from the capacity of ecosystems to deliver goods and services that satisfy their needs [75,76].…”

Section: Urban Green Spaces and Green Infrastructurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Turning to the Global South: South Africa in Focus Within the Global South, South Africa presents particularly fertile research potential owing to three features. Firstly, although research on multiple facets related to UGSs has predominantly focused on the Global North [51], neglecting sub-Saharan Africa in particular [34], South Africa has been especially well represented in scholarship [52], and the country provides a relatively rich literature base on urban ecology to inform future research. Secondly, South Africa provides an obverse case to conventions in the Global North, with racial minorities (of European descent) generally presenting as the wealthiest group in the country in contrast with the poorer Black majority, as a result of past institutionalized racial discrimination under colonialism and apartheid [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic Valuation of Urban Green Spaces across a Socioeconomic Gradient: A South African Case Study

Lategan

Steynberg

Cilliers

et al. 2022

Land

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Urban green spaces (UGSs) may present economic contributions through increases in proximate property values, encapsulated in the proximity principle (PP). More data on the PP is required from the Global South, where the quality and equitable distribution of UGSs are important considerations. This paper investigates the PP in Potchefstroom, South Africa following a quantitative approach, by statistically analyzing municipal property valuations in three districts differentiated according to their socioeconomic status (SES). Districts are divided into sample areas where three zones are demarcated according to their proximity to a UGS. The results show that property valuations are generally higher for properties in closer proximity to UGSs in lower- and higher-income samples, but are lower in middle-income areas. Neighborhood characteristics and SES, UGS amenity and maintenance, ecosystem services and disservices, domestic garden area and residential property size may be connected to the confirmation or rejection of the PP. The rejection of the PP in middle-income areas indicates a need to improve public UGSs as amenity destinations. The results confirming the PP in low-income areas could incentivize expenditures to improve UGS area and quality to increase the willingness to pay for proximity to such spaces and, reciprocally, increase revenue from municipal property taxes.

show abstract

“…A growing number of cities recognize the multiple benefits that green infrastructure can provide ( Zabcik, 2017 ; Meerow, 2020 ). Unfortunately, the pace and the scale to implement green infrastructure is not keeping pace with rapidly changing environmental conditions in both developed ( Wihlborg et al, 2019 ; Van Oijstaeijen et al, 2020 ) and developing countries ( Pauleit et al, 2021 ). This is leaving communities and infrastructure systems more vulnerable when facing challenges associated with climate change ( Dhakal and Chevalier, 2017 ; Hu and Shealy, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Priming Engineers to Think About Sustainability: Cognitive and Neuro-Cognitive Evidence to Support the Adoption of Green Stormwater Design

Shealy

2022

Front. Neurosci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Green infrastructure is the application of nature-based solutions like bioswales, rain gardens, and permeable pavements to reduce flooding in urban areas. These systems are underutilized in the design of the built environment. A barrier to their implementation is that design engineers tend to discount the tangential benefits of these greener systems and overweigh the associated risks. This study tested whether priming engineers to think about the environmental and social sustainability benefits of green infrastructure can influence what attributes engineers consider and how they weigh these attributes during the design decision-making process. Forty engineering students trained in stormwater design were asked to evaluate the implementation of a conventional stormwater design option and a green stormwater design option. Their preferred design option was recorded and the changes in their neuro-cognition were measured using functional near infrared-spectroscopy. Half of the engineers were asked to first consider the potential outcomes of these options on the environment and the surrounding community. Priming engineers to first consider environmental and social sustainability before considering the cost and risk of each option, significantly increased the perceived benefits the engineers believed green infrastructure could provide. The priming intervention also increased the likelihood that engineers would recommend the green infrastructure option. The engineers primed to think about environmental and social sustainability exhibited significantly lower oxy-hemoglobin in their ventrolateral, dorsolateral, and medial prefrontal cortex through multiple phases of the judgment and decision-making process. The intervention appears to increase cognitive representativeness or salience of the benefits for green infrastructure when engineers evaluate design alternatives. This relatively low-cost intervention, asking engineers to consider environmental and social sustainability for each design alternative, can shift engineering decision-making and change neuro-cognition.

show abstract

Urban Green Infrastructure in the Global South

Cited by 40 publications

References 164 publications

Assessing Inequalities in Wellbeing at a Neighbourhood Scale in Low-Middle-Income-Country Secondary Cities and Their Implications for Long-Term Livability

Assessing Inequalities in Wellbeing at a Neighbourhood Scale in Low-Middle-Income-Country Secondary Cities and Their Implications for Long-Term Livability

Economic Valuation of Urban Green Spaces across a Socioeconomic Gradient: A South African Case Study

Priming Engineers to Think About Sustainability: Cognitive and Neuro-Cognitive Evidence to Support the Adoption of Green Stormwater Design

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About