In this final section of Module 2, we will discuss how green infrastructure planning and green engineering can help cities deliver a range of ecosystem services to urban residents. We will also examine how green infrastructure networks are developed in practice, via the lecture and the assigned readings. You will see that green infrastructure networks can deliver multiple ecosystem services at once, and that cooperation and collaboration are key to successfully planning and implementing green infrastructure solutions.
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
Discuss and compare the principles of green infrastructure planning.
Describe some of the ways in which green infrastructure is delivered through green engineering.
Describe how green infrastructure networks are developed in practice.
Readings and Discussion Questions (For certificate learning only)
The required readings for this section include one chapter from the Handbook of Urban Forestry and a report on green infrastructure from the GREEN SURGE project. Please read Lafortezza et al.’s chapter on strategic green infrastructure planning and Hansen et al.’s green infrastructure guide for practitioners. After reading both chapters, please post two discussion questions on the course forum. What stood out in these chapters? What can we learn about how to plan and implement green infrastructure projects and networks?
Lecture Recordings
Lorien Nesbitt’s lecture outlines the green infrastructure concept and its implementation in different cities around the world. It also covers the principles of green infrastructure planning, discusses some of the potential drawbacks of green infrastructure and nature-based solutions, and analyses best practices for planning and implementing green infrastructure in cities.
Post-lecture Mini Quiz (For certificate learning only)
Now it’s time for you to complete an online, multiple choice topic quiz after finishing viewing each lecture for this topic. The main purpose of the quiz is to examine how well you grasp the contents for this topic. The quiz will be open-book, covering contents of the lecture(s) for the topic. You will have 5 mins to complete the quiz. Two attempts are allowed and higher mark will be saved for your grade. There will be 13 online topic quizzes throughout the course with 4-5 questions per quiz, each worth 4-5 points that collectively count for 10% towards the final grade.
When you are ready, click the link Mini Quiz 2.4 or go to left menu > Quizzes > Mini Quiz 2.4 to start taking the quiz.
Topic Summary
Urban green infrastructure can use used to provide multiple ecosystem services to city dwellers. When planning and implementing green infrastructure, it is important to remember and adhere to the principles of green infrastructure planning. Although some kinds of green infrastructure can be cost prohibitive, especially green engineering solutions, when done well, green infrastructure can be an important part of making cities pleasant places to live.
Topic Self-review (For self learning)
To review what you have learned in the topic, you are encouraged to use the following reflection questions as a study guide to do a self-review for the topic:
What are three principles of green infrastructure planning?
How are green and grey infrastructure integrated in your neighbourhood or city?
What does it mean for a planning process to be socially inclusive? What is this important in green infrastructure planning?
Graded Assignment(s) for the Week (For certificate learning only)
None.
FODE012
Requirements Changed
Topic 2.3: Cultural Ecosystem Services of Urban Forests Module II Summary