Sectoral workshop on Green infrastructure implementation Multiple benefits of Green Infrastructure Kristin Faurest Arad October 2015
Contents Green infrastructure as an integrated solution: social, ecological and economical benefits of the GI approach The value of and approaches to stakeholder mapping
The integrated benefits of GI The role of green infrastructure in addressing the challenges of the 21st century cannot be underestimated. We define GI as the network of natural and semi-natural features, green spaces, rivers and lakes that intersperse and connect villages, towns and cities. It is a natural, service-providing infrastructure that is often more costeffective, more resilient and more capable of meeting social, environmental and economic objectives than grey infrastructure. --Landscape Institute, Position Statement
Graphic by Anna Szilágyi-Nagy
Graphic: Anna Szilágyi-Nagy
Graphic by Anna Szilágyi-Nagy
Urban sustainability or GI strategy documents: Integrated sets of goals, multifunctional purposes
Graphic: Anna Szilágyi-Nagy
Graphic by Anna Szilágyi-Nagy
Graphic by Anna Szilágyi-Nagy
Graphic by Anna Szilágyi-Nagy
Graphic by Anna Szilágyi-Nagy
Graphic by Anna Szilágyi-Nagy
Issue: Waste management Integrated tools: Full landfill sites can be capped and adapted to be wildlife habitats and leisure parks as well as provide energy production via methane gas harvesting Benefits: Increased green surface ameliorates urban heat island effect, provides recreation Energy production from methane harvesting provides alternative heating source The process of adaptive reuse has public educational role
Issue: Climate change adaptation Integrated tools: Increasing tree cover- and biologically active surfaces Incorporating green roofs and walls Providing community gardens to enhance public participation Benefits to climate change adaptation and beyond: Reduced urban heat island effect, better air quality Trees act as carbon sinks Connected GI assets create wildlife corridors to enhance biodiversity Socially-active programs build social capital and collective efficacy, reduce crime
Issue: Public health Integrated tools: Well-designed open space and leisure and recreation facilities including cycling infrastructure, market or arts spaces, playgrounds Benefits: Reduction of obesity and related public health problems Reduction of youth behavior problems and crime because of increased public space use Reduction of car use Attraction of urban wildlife
Issue: Agriculture and food security Integrated tools: Spaces for food production via allotments, community garden, orchards, CPULs, using local breeds and diverse varieties Benefits: Reduced need for chemicals and irrigation Reduction of crop disease Increase of local, healthy, diverse food supplies Improved public nutritional habits particularly among children Enhanced local identity and economy through unique agricultural products
Issue: Tourism, or lack thereof Integrated tools: Infrastructure for land and water to promote non-motorized mobility and recreation; promotion and support of unique local products, landmarks, characteristic landscapes, heritage and culture Benefits: Economic support for local farmers, artisans, hospitality sector Responsible stewardship of streams, forests, shores, mountains, other landscapes Incentive to stay in formerly depressed areas
Greenways: A classic integrated planning solution that combines ecological protection with small-scale economic development, preservation of historic interest and cultural values, enhancement of recreational opportunities, promotion of local identity, encouragement of young people and families to stay in struggling rural areas. Neusiedler See, Burgenland, Austria Photo from www.oggau.at
Hoge Kempen National Park, Belgium Goals: To create Belgium s first national park with the additional goal of creating jobs and revitalizing the local economy in the densely populated province of Limburg.
2006: A local NGO convinced policy makers that creating a national park would be an economic asset for a depressed region, with adaptive reuse of industrial ruins
Coordination of all parties dealing with ecological, recreational, touristic, heritage, communication, promotional and economic aspects of the national park is carried out by the non-governmental organisation Regionaal Landschap Kempen en Maasland. Governance The park's founder, Ignace Schops convinced politicians his project should qualify for economic regeneration grants, and not just modest, small conservation funds The public properties in the park and its surroundings are managed by the Agency of the Flemish government. Visitor centres and recreational infrastructure are managed by local communities.
Results: 12 municipalities and 9 nature organizations joined the effort, later the government s department of nature also offered financial support Creation of the 5700 hectare park generated some 400 jobs and stimulated private investment in tourism in this historically de-industrialised region, thousands more jobs generated as a result of park s existence 725,000 visitors in 2011 for hiking, cycling, horseback riding, camping, etc.
Opening: March 2006, cost over EUR 80 million (half government financing) Size: 60 sq km Part of Natura 2000 network, considered for UNESCO status
Largest woodland and nature reserve in Flanders and Belgium s only national park Includes extensive pine forests alternate with purple flowering heather, large expanses of water create lakes formerly occupied by quarries. Generates estimated EUR 24 million annually in revenue from tourists plus additional revenue in increased property values for adjacent communities
Aesthetic and ecological character of the former coalmining landscape is appreciated by tourists, and the park won the 2008 Goldman Environmental Prize. Part of utilities infrastructure: 20,000,000m3 of drinking water extracted annually
The most important aspect of the establishment of the park is the fact that these positive, measurable results directly influenced the political will to invest in the improvement of the natural conditions and the ecological resilience of the park: transforming motorways into cycle-paths, an ecoduct to lower the impact of a highway, transformation of farmland, nature restoration in gravel- and sandpits and much more. This project has re-connected nature conservation and tourism in a win-situation for both interests. Johan Van Den Bosch, park authority, 2012 policy paper
Stakeholder mapping Innovative thinking outside of the usual linear, top-down way Identifying unexpected partners or sources of support in other sectors Mapping out potential cooperations and/or conflicts Predicting patterns of cooperation, consensus or problems
Source: Claire Micklin UX Design + Research
Thank you for your attention! Arad October 2015