A Multicriteria Multimethod Analysis of Barriers for Green Infrastructure Implementation in Developing Countries: A Case Study of Sri Lanka

ABSTRACT Many developed economies are considering the use of Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI) as a tool to enhance the climate resilience of urban areas and align with SDG 11 - Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Yet, the integration of UGI in developing countries seems to be lagging. Thus, they are missing out on one of the instruments that could facilitate developing nations’ compliance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This review examines the current state of UGI knowledge and implementation in Sri Lanka through a comprehensive literature review, an evaluation of UGI-related policies, guidelines, plans, and projects, and an assessment of stakeholder perspectives using the Delphi technique. As a result, the study identifies five significant challenges of mainstreaming UGI in Sri Lanka, such as lack of: clear consensual understanding of UGI- definition, ecosystem service functionality, implementation facilitative classification of UGI, design tool for UGI adaptation in constrained urban context, political willingness to integrate UGI planning principles in urban planning, robust legal framework and well-specified co-governance. Furthermore, the paper identifies concepts and tools as a forward path, such as a clear acknowledgement of current enabling conditions and gaps through known/ unknown diagram, categorization of multifunctional UGI such as with ecosystem service (ES) or place-making (PM) UGI, use of design syntax for adaptable design, and enhancement of regulatory framework. This review aspires to open the conversation on usefulness of UGI as a step towards climate resilience and SDG 11, at all levels of academic institutions to governmental agencies, in Sri Lanka. KEYWORDS: Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI), Nature-based Solutions (NbS), Climate Resilience, Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG 11), Urban Planning, Landscape, Design Syntax, Placemaking, Mixed method, Multimethod, Multicriteria, Analysis