Integrate green infrastructure into urban areas

A variety of approaches are available to incorporate green infrastructure into urban neighbourhoods.

Cheonggyecheon stream restoration project in Seoul, South Korea. Photo by Nepal Asatthawasi

New developments provide lots of opportunities for incorporating green infrastructure into their design.  However, much of the built environment is already there and is unlikely to change much, so more creative approaches are needed.

Meanwhile, different neighbourhoods will face different challenges from climate change: neighbourhoods built on clay soils may be at risk from subsidence due to alternating periods of heavy rainfall and drought, while many city centres will have to deal with extremes of heat.

The urban heat island effect can make cities several degrees warmer than surrounding areas and this will be exacerbated by climate change. The biggest difference is in night time temperatures where the heat stored by hard surfaces, roads, roofs and walls is only slowly released. This creates an island of warmer temperature which is very oppressive during hot summers.

Hotter summers can be uncomfortable for people, increase heat stress and in extreme cases increase mortality. In the heatwave of 2003, there were up to 35,000 additional deaths across Europe and 3,000 additional deaths in the UK.

According to research by the Hadley Centre, by 2040 more than half of summers will be warmer than 2003 and by 2100 summer temperatures similar to 2003 will be classed as cool.

Green infrastructure can help mitigate the causes of climate change by reducing the amount of energy used to cool buildings. Modelling work in Greater Manchester suggested that if we increase our green cover in towns and cities by 10 per cent, we can keep surface temperatures at current levels despite climate change.

However, evaporative cooling from plants is dependent on having an adequate supply of water. This will be especially true during droughts, when we will have to irrigate vegetation. We have to make sure that sustainable water management, such as capturing and storing rainwater untill needed for irrigation, is linked to maintaining functional green infrastructure. This can have the added benefit of alleviating the risk of flooding from heavy rainfall.

Advice about integrating green infrastructure into urban areas