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Planting the Living City

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  • Robert Young

Abstract

Problem: Critics have problematized infrastructure for its inability to keep pace with the rising social and ecological impacts of urbanization. Researchers identify urban green infrastructure (GI), including urban forests, as an important strategy for providing public goods and increasing resiliency while reducing ecological footprints and social inequity in metropolitan areas; however, realizing these benefits through planning is still uncertain ground, as most contemporary urban GI endeavors in the United States are small, individual projects rather than integrated, community-wide efforts. This underinvestment has left planners with little experience in developing GI at a metropolitan scale. Purpose: We address this deficit in infrastructure planning by studying planning's role in advancing large-scale, urban tree-planting initiatives (TPI) in eight major U.S. cities and one metropolitan county. In this study, we explore stakeholder perspectives on successes and setbacks in TPI planting, stewardship, business, and outreach plans. From these perspectives, we identify possible best practices that can better inform future efforts to plan GI on a metropolitan scale. Methods: From a review of the literature, we identified ideal planning elements researchers and practitioners considered fundamental to well-planned, urban forestry-based GI programs. We interviewed key stakeholders (n = 86) in eight major cities and one metropolitan county (New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Baltimore, Seattle, Denver, Albuquerque, Sacramento, and Salt Lake County), using multiple-choice and open-ended questions to explore their perceptions of TPI successes, failures, and opportunities for improvement. We used this data to compare TPI planning and implementation with ideal urban forestry and GI planning elements, to identify TPI best practices, and to locate TPI program elements such as business and stewardship planning in relation to traditional infrastructure. We discuss these findings in light of opportunities to bring GI into the mainstream of metropolitan infrastructure planning. Results and conclusions: We found that cities employed a spectrum of planning strategies to advance TPI, ranging from highly institutionalized, data-driven initiatives to decentralized, grassroots efforts. Participants viewed TPI as bringing GI to the mainstream; however, uncertainties in funding and long-term stewardship belie this perspective. Lacking access to traditional infrastructure financing, several TPI used creative development and contracting strategies to maintain program funding and momentum, while others stagnated. Additionally, programs lost momentum when mayors who launched TPI were not reelected. Successful underfunded initiatives focused on community-level engagement. However, institutionalized, diverse funding structures and robust, agency-level commitment to maintaining and expanding urban forests were considered most effective in advancing urban forestry-based GI. Overall geographic distribution of TPI, and the relatively sophisticated financial and institutional approaches achieved by New York and Seattle, provide insight into possible national strategies to advance metropolitan-scale GI. Similarly, Los Angeles's and Baltimore's use of focused corporate sponsorship and community engagement to advance underfunded programs could inform international GI efforts. Takeaway for practice: Through large-scale TPI, planners are beginning to engage in planning metropolitan-scale GI as a conscious strategy to address urban ecological issues and deliver public goods. Initiatives benefit from being launched early in an administration's term. Further, detailed, data-driven planting plans, combined with diversified funding sources and the institutionalization of tree-acquisition in the capital budget, can enable TPI to establish a) long-term contracts, b) control over supply chains, and c) stability in recessionary times. Contracting with grassroots and advocacy organizations to perform education and fieldwork can provide means for underfunded programs to maintain momentum toward meeting TPI goals; however, accessing traditional infrastructure financing mechanisms and institutionalizing stewardship plans are fundamental to long-term expansion and maintenance of investments in metropolitan GI. Research support: None.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Young, 2011. "Planting the Living City," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 77(4), pages 368-381.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:rjpaxx:v:77:y:2011:i:4:p:368-381
    DOI: 10.1080/01944363.2011.616996
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    Cited by:

    1. Chenoweth, Jonathan & Anderson, Andrew R. & Kumar, Prashant & Hunt, W.F. & Chimbwandira, Sarah Jane & Moore, Trisha L.C., 2018. "The interrelationship of green infrastructure and natural capital," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 137-144.
    2. Galvin, Emily M. & BenDor, Todd K., 2023. "The economic impacts of green stormwater infrastructure: An evaluation of novel stormwater management policies in Washington, D.C," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    3. Agatino Rizzo, 2020. "Megaprojects and the limits of ‘green resilience’ in the global South: Two cases from Malaysia and Qatar," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(7), pages 1520-1535, May.
    4. Fruth, Erik & Kvistad, Michele & Marshall, Joe & Pfeifer, Lena & Rau, Luisa & Sagebiel, Julian & Soto, Daniel & Tarpey, John & Weir, Jessica & Winiarski, Bradyn, 2019. "Economic valuation of street-level urban greening: A case study from an evolving mixed-use area in Berlin," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    5. Francesca Vignoli & Claudia de Luca & Simona Tondelli, 2021. "A Spatial Ecosystem Services Assessment to Support Decision and Policy Making: The Case of the City of Bologna," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-19, March.
    6. Amy Hillier & Bing Han & Theodore S. Eisenman & Kelly R. Evenson & Thomas L. McKenzie & Deborah A. Cohen, 2016. "Using Systematic Observations to Understand Conditions that Promote Interracial Experiences in Neighbourhood Parks," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 1(4), pages 51-64.
    7. Vera Ferreira & Ana Paula Barreira & Luís Loures & Dulce Antunes & Thomas Panagopoulos, 2020. "Stakeholders’ Engagement on Nature-Based Solutions: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-27, January.
    8. Thompson, Kate & Sherren, Kate & Duinker, Peter N., 2019. "The use of ecosystem services concepts in Canadian municipal plans," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 1-1.
    9. Abdul Basit & Noor Ul Amin & Syed Tanveer Shah & Imran Ahmad, 2022. "Greenbelt conservation as a component of ecosystem, ecological benefits and management services: evidence from Peshawar City, Pakistan," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(9), pages 11424-11448, September.
    10. Gavriilidis, Gaby & Metaxas, Theodore, 2017. "Strategic planning and city/regional development: Review, analysis, critique and applications for Greece," MPRA Paper 81131, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Se-Rin Park & Soon-Jin Hwang & Kyungjin An & Sang-Woo Lee, 2021. "Identifying Key Watershed Characteristics That Affect the Biological Integrity of Streams in the Han River Watershed, Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-15, March.
    12. Theodore Metaxas & Laura Juarez & Gaby Gavriilidis, 2021. "Planning and Marketing the City for Sustainability: The Madrid Nuevo Norte Project," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-22, February.
    13. James D. Hale & Thomas A. M. Pugh & Jon P. Sadler & Christopher T. Boyko & Julie Brown & Silvio Caputo & Maria Caserio & Richard Coles & Raziyeh Farmani & Chantal Hales & Russell Horsey & Dexter V. L., 2015. "Delivering a Multi-Functional and Resilient Urban Forest," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-25, April.
    14. Ying Yan Tan & Rosmini Omar, 2022. "Green Practices and Innovations of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Industry in Singapore: Idea Worth Sharing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-38, September.
    15. Rall, Emily Lorance & Kabisch, Nadja & Hansen, Rieke, 2015. "A comparative exploration of uptake and potential application of ecosystem services in urban planning," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 230-242.
    16. Hong-Duck Sou & Pyung-Rae Kim & Byungmook Hwang & Jeong-Hak Oh, 2021. "Diurnal and Seasonal Variations of Particulate Matter Concentrations in the Urban Forests of Saetgang Ecological Park in Seoul, Korea," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-14, November.
    17. Hye Kyung Lee, 2020. "A panel data analysis of a spatial measurement of green infrastructure and its potential effectiveness on peak streamflow," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 469-500, January.
    18. Mahbubur Meenar & Megan Heckert & Deepti Adlakha, 2022. "“Green Enough Ain’t Good Enough:” Public Perceptions and Emotions Related to Green Infrastructure in Environmental Justice Communities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-17, January.
    19. Robert Goodspeed & Ruoshui Liu & Dimitrios Gounaridis & Camilla Lizundia & Joshua Newell, 2022. "A regional spatial planning model for multifunctional green infrastructure," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 49(3), pages 815-833, March.
    20. Jordi Honey-Rosés & Oscar Zapata, 2023. "Green Spaces with Fewer People Improve Self-Reported Affective Experience and Mood," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-10, January.

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