To what extent do green infrastructure designs protect ecosystem services from environmental change following development?

Abstract

The protection of green infrastructure (GI) ecosystem services for the long term is of high importance within North America (e.g. Wickham et al., 2010) and within the EU (e.g. Tzoulas et al., 2007). Land use planning is recognized internationally as an important tool in defining and protecting GI and its ecosystem services for the long term (e.g. Glicksman, 2009; Benedict and McMahon, 2006). Scholars increasingly recognize the necessity of having policies, and green infrastructure designs, that anticipate and adapt to changes that follow initial development (e.g. Hostetler et al., 2011; Pettersson and Keskitalo, 2013). Yet, studies indicate many planning policy approaches only protect GI to the point of development (McWilliam et al., 2012; Pettersson and Keskitalo, 2013), and often results in small, narrow and fragmented components unable to withstand anticipated and unanticipated changes that arrive following adjacent housing development. This results in a significant loss or degradation in its ecosystem services (McWilliam et al., 2009; 2010; 2011). This presentation reviews negative residential encroachment impacts resulting from popular green infrastructure planning policies, and outlines design principles for protecting essential ecosystem services of green infrastructure for the long term.