An analysis of green infrastructure in municipal policy: Divergent meaning and terminology in the Greater Toronto Area |
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| Institution: | 1. Water in the West Program, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, 473 Via Ortega, Room 216, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA;2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, 473 Via Ortega Room 314, Stanford, CA 94305, USA;3. ReNUWit Engineering Research Center, Stanford University, 473 Via Ortega Room 117, Stanford, CA 94305, USA;4. Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, 473 Via Ortega, Room 218B, Stanford, CA 94305, USA;1. Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA;2. Interdisciplinary Studies Program, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Sierra Nevada College, Incline Village, NV, USA;3. School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada;4. Wabash River Enhancement Corporation, Lafayette, IN, USA;1. Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, UK;2. Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), Bilbao, Spain;3. Ikerbasque-Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain;4. Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent, UK;5. Centre for Agri-Environmental Research, University of Reading, UK;1. Istituto di Biometeorologia, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, via Giovanni Caproni 8, 50145 Firenze, Italy;2. Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Piazza Umberto I, 70121 Bari, Italy;3. Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel;1. Chair for Strategic Landscape Planning and Management, Technical University of Munich, Emil-Ramann-Str. 6, D-85354, Freising, Germany;2. Institute of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476, Potsdam-Golm, Germany;3. Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Eberswalder Str. 84, 15374, Müncheberg, Germany;4. German Aerospace Center (DLR), Project Management Agency, Rosa-Luxemburg-Str. 2, 10178, Berlin, Germany;1. Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Bari “A. Moro”, Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy;2. Center for Global Change and Earth Observations (CGCEO), Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48823, USA;3. Department of Architecture, Planning & Landscape, Claremont Tower, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK |
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| Abstract: | The concept of green infrastructure has been rapidly adopted by several disciplines and is increasingly appearing in policy discussions. While the use of the term has recently expanded, there is no single definition of green infrastructure. To date most of the research examining green infrastructure in policy has occurred in Europe and the US, and to a lesser extent Asia, highlighting differences in the term’s meaning between these regions. Green infrastructure has also recently become part of policy discourse in Canada, but it is unclear how widespread its use is or how it is being defined in a Canadian policy context. This study examines inclusion of the term ‘green infrastructure’, and the broader ideas it represents, in municipal policy through a content analysis of 81 municipal plans from the 25 municipalities in the Greater Toronto Area (Ontario, Canada). Examined plans includes those addressing land use, urban forests, stormwater and other relevant sectors. We found that the term appears in 30 % of the examined municipal plans, with three distinct definitions used: living green infrastructure, non-living green infrastructure and ‘greening’ gray infrastructure. Closely related terms (e.g., low impact development) and incorporation of the concept of green infrastructure without using the specific term are more common than direct references to green infrastructure. The variety of terminology and definitions incorporated into the municipal plans raise questions about potential confusion around basic policy goals associated with green infrastructure. |
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| Keywords: | Land use plans Urban forest management plans Stormwater management plans Canada Content analysis |
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