A weekly review of interesting articles on green infrastructure from round the world
Welsh Green Infrastructure Guide
The recently published ‘Building with Nature’. Published by the Welsh Wildlife Trusts is an excellent piece of work. The Welsh Green Infrastructure Guide can be downloaded here. The guide shows how integrated GI in cites and towns can increase biodiversity and nature. Importantly the guidance also highlights how GI can also increase people’s well being. Of course we particularly like all small green roofs built by The GrassRoofCompany. If you want to build a small scale green roof then Small-scale green roof guide is for you.
Scale is not the issue, it is the amount of urban green infrastructure
Talking small, from across the pond comes an article that highlights the need to consider the small as well as the large. Europe and the UK needs to take this on board. In the US and Canada, properties are being encouraged to engage in the GI agenda. We know of plenty of small green roofs in Europe, however, there are only a few examples of neighbourhood scale rain gardens.
The Green Infrastructure Consultancy has designed a few in central London which have been installed.
Is much of the green city agenda about greenwashing?
An excellent article in the LA Times highlights highlights what does greening cities actually mean. Is it all smart technology and carbon saving technology? Green infrastructure, in our view, should be about nature-based solutions to that help biodiversity, climate change adaptation and the health of urban citizens. For other, however, it is about renewable energ, sensors and computer generated solutions.
‘Today’s green urban dream is too often about bringing a technologically controlled version of nature into the city and declaring the problem solved, rather than looking … deeper.’
This partly because innovation is generally considered to be about new products. Techy things that can be mass produced in factories. Through our membership of the EFB we are aware that at EU level there is an focus on this type of innovation. The Green infrastructure industry already had the products and services. They are just being underused in the urban realm. What we need is innovation in how green infrastructure is delivered through new business models and…
‘If green cities are cool why aren’t they happening more?
Planning is the focus of our next item, that is very much in line with the previous one. This Australian article highlights an inherent problem for GI in urban areas – how can it be delivered to the mainstream.
‘If planners understand it is cool to green cities way aren’t they doing more?’
Our thought on this is that planners in Europe want to green their cities. It is an architectural and construction industry issue. Built environment professions tend to be homogenous in their thinking. Green infrastructure inherently requires a more heterogenous/holistic approach to the urban realm beyond bricks and mortar thinking.
What we need is innovation in how green infrastructure is delivered through new business models and new holistic planning mechanisms to help deliver greener cities. With this type of innovation planners with have the tools to deliver.