WELCOME TO THE "OPEN SOURCE" GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE MOVEMENT!Please feel free to add content directly or make suggestions for future refinements via the comment feature. Page templates are available if you want to add new green infrastructure elements and case studies. It is our hope that this will grow into a shared resource for a multi-disciplinary movement. We hope you find it helpful and thanks for your contribution.
A WORKING DEFINITION The term "green infrastructure" is being applied at a
wide range of landscape scales, from statewide conservation networks to streetside rain gardens. Fundamentally, green infrastructure is just a framework for recognizing the valuable services that nature provides for the human environment. At a bioregional scale, green infrastructure supports essential ecosystem functions. At a metropolitan scale, green infrastructure forms a tapestry of open space that serves and guides smarth growth. At a site scale, green infrastructure integrates functions and makes life-giving processes visible and meaningful. Large protected and connected natural habitats are the foundation for any regional green infrastructure network. Parks, trails, greenways, and other open spaces should link communities to each other and a regional landscape matrix. Holistically conceived, a green infrastructure network is also a regenerative solution to urban challenges associated with stormwater and waste management, mobility and public health, local food and energy security, and even protection from natural and man-made hazards.
A FRAMEWORK: THE TABLE OF ELEMENTS Green infrastructure needs a conceptual framework that can accommodate the range of scales and functions described by the term. Every emerging field must codify its underlying patterns and principles. Biology has scientific classification and chemistry has the periodic table. Below, we propose and invite your contribution to a green infrastructure framework made up of 5 interconnected systems:
habitat,
community,
water,
mobility, and
energy & materials. Each system is made up of green infrastructure elements. These elements are not discrete from one another in the precise way of chemical elements. Some are irreducibly multi-functional and defy clean categorization. Others have specific purposes. By attempting to articulate and clarify the elements that make up our green infrastructure networks, we hope to hasten their understanding and application. The real magic, of course, is in how these systems work together so we are also collecting
case studies that demonstrate how these elements can be combined and layered to form high-performance landscapes. Element-specific resources are located on each element page. Resources and measures of health related to a whole system are located on each system's page. Resources and measures of health related to multiple systems or green infrastructure planning generally are located at the bottom of this page.
SYSTEM 1: HABITAT 1UW Urban Wild | 1Wl Wetland | 1Sl Shoreline | 1WC Wildlife Crossing | 1RC Riparian Corridor | 1Gb Greenbelt | 1BH Backyard Habitat | 1UF Urban Forest |
1HC Habitat Corridor | 1GG Guerrilla Garden |
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SYSTEM 2: COMMUNITY 2P Park | 2RL Residential Landscape | 2Wp Workplace | 2TP Third Place | 2Sy Schoolyard | 2SG Streetside Garden | 2PA Public Art | 2IR Intersection Repair |
2CG Community Garden | 2Sq Square | 2JS Junk Space |
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SYSTEM 3: WATER 3RG Rain Garden | 3Bs Bioswale | 3SP Stormwater Planter | 3Wp Wetpond | 3Dp Drypond | 3CW Constructed Wetland | 3GR Green Roof | 3Ci Cistern |
3FS Filter Strip | 3PP Porous Pavement | 3GA Green Alley | 3Tb Treebox | 3OF Oyster Filter | 3BR Blue Roof | 3SC Stormwater Channel |
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SYSTEM 4: MOBILITYSYSTEM 5: ENERGY & MATERIALS
GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING AND PROGRAMMATIC CASE STUDIESLake Forest Park Green Infrastructure Plan Lake Forest Park, Washington
Homer Suitability Map Planning Sustainable Communities: A Green Infrastructure Guide for Milton Keynes and the South Midlands, England GI Guide for British Columbia, CanadaGI applied in North East England Open Space Seattle 2100Open Space San Francisco 2100Metropolitan Washington Council of Government's Green Infrastructure ProgramMetropolitan Washington Green Infrastructure TourMaryland's Green Infrastructure AssessmentEPA and Washington, D.C. Adopt Green Infrastructure StrategyShoreline Green Infrastructure Plan, Shoreline, Washington
Green Infrastructure North West, EnglandThe Conservation Fund's
Baltimore County Green Infrastructure Case StudyGreen Municipalities - A Guide to Green Infrastructure for Canadian MunicipalitiesKansas City's Mid-America Regional Council (MARC)
MetroGreen Initiative
Englands
TCPA Green Infrastructure WorksheetDuwamish Valley Vision Map & Report 2009 by the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition in Seattle (uses a variation on the green infrastructure systems methodology)
Urban Planning for a Quality Dense Green Structure, Stockholm Sociotop Map and Park Programme
GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE MEASURES OF HEALTHLandscape Sustainability Metrics by UW StudentsCNT's Stormwater Values CalculatorBuild Carbon Neutral CalculatorKing County's Public Benefit Rating SystemLEED for Neighborhood DevelopmentSustainable Sites InitiativeHow Green Infrastructure Measures Up to Structural Stormwater ServicesCity of Shoreline Sustainability IndicatorsNPR's Marketplace Reports on New Jersey's Quantification of the Value of it's Undeveloped LandPublic Benefit Recording System (PBRS) for Green InfrastructureThe Built Environment: Designing Communities to Promote Physical Activity in Children The Built Environment: Designing Communities to Promote Physical Activity in Children
GENERAL RESOURCES FOR GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE The Conservation Fund's green infrastructure programsGI webzine of the Green Infrastructure Partnership in British ColumbiaUrban Open Space FoundationEPA's green infrastructure partnershipGreen Infrastructure case studies by students of Nancy Rottle at the University of WashingtonGreen Infrastructure article by Steve Nicholas, City of Seattle's Director of Sustainability and EnvironmentUrban Greensheds article by Brice Maryman of
SvR Playbook for Green Buildings and NeighborhoodsSustainable Raindrops, Cleaning New York Harbor by Greening the Urban Environment, a report by
RiverkeeperGreen Infrastructure Plan Evaluation Frameworks by McDonald, Benedict, et al.
How Cities Use Parks for Green Infrastructure by McMahon and BenedictGreen Infrastructure Report to the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, UK, by David GoodeGrowing with Green Infrastructure by Karen WilliamsonGreen Cities, a Cornell class on urban ecological designStrategic Conservation Planning Using a Green Infrastucture Approach (a GI planning course)Green Infrastructure Resolution by US Council of MayorsUse of Green Infrastructure in NPDES PermitsEPA Green Infrastructure Statement of IntentEnvironmental Council of the States Statement Supporting Green InfrastructureGreen Infrastructure Permeates Through Chicago, CNT blog articleThe Living Site and Infrastructure Challenge by Cascadia Green Futures Research and Design Lab at the University of Washington Ergonomics of the City: Green Infrastructure and Social Benefits, article by Kathleen WolfJournal of Conservation Planning National Association of Realtors MagazineInfraestructura Verde y Nuestros Parques ("Green Infrastructure & Our Parks"), a report from Puerto Rico
Green Infrastructure: Linking Landscapes + Communities, American Society of Landscape Architects Annual Conference 2008