Strategic Green Infrastructure Planning
A Multi-Scale Approach
160 pages
8.5 x 11
80 photos, 67 illustrations
Book Description
From New York City's urban forest and farmland in Virginia to the vast Sonoran Desert of Arizona and riverside parks in Vancouver, Washington, green infrastructure is becoming a priority for cities, counties, and states across America. Recognition of the need to manage our natural assets—trees, soils, water, and habitats—as part of our green infrastructure is vital to creating livable places and healthful landscapes. But the land management decisions about how to create plans, where to invest money, and how to get the most from these investments are complex, influenced by differing landscapes, goals, and stakeholders.
Strategic Green Infrastructure Planning addresses the nuts and bolts of planning and preserving natural assets at a variety of scales—from dense urban environments to scenic rural landscapes. A practical guide to creating effective and well-crafted plans and then implementing them, the book presents a six-step process developed and field-tested by the Green Infrastructure Center in Charlottesville, Virginia. Well-organized chapters explain how each step, from setting goals to implementing opportunities, can be applied to a variety of scenarios, customizable to the reader's target geographical location. Chapters draw on a diverse group of case studies, from the arid open spaces of the Sonoran Desert to the streets of Jersey City. Abundant full color maps, photographs, and illustrations complement the text.
For planners, elected officials, developers, conservationists, and others interested in the creation and maintenance of open space lands and urban green infrastructure projects or promoting a healthy economy, this book offers a comprehensive yet flexible approach to conceiving, refining, and implementing successful projects.
Review Quotes
"This is a how-to book…It rests on the premise that green infrastructure is 'the sum of all our natural resources,' but it is not about stopping or rolling back development. Instead it is about a systematic way for a community to decide 'what is important and to develop a rationale for what to protect, ending up with four or five specific goals that everyone can agree on.'"
Planning
"This guide addresses a wide audience: planners, developers, city managers, landscape architects, architects, scientists, and others interested in how and where to develop or conserve land. Its simple and pleasant writing makes it valuable for professors, students, citizen groups, and conservationists. The examples given from the U.S. are applicable worldwide. It is a useful book that provides tools and tips, and I strongly recommend it."
Ana Faggi, The Nature of Cities
"Green infrastructure is now a commonly accepted urban planning concept. Yet knowledge about how to put together a comprehensive plan remains limited. With this excellent book, everything changes. Karen Firehock utilizes her many years of hands-on experience working with communities around the country to produce this indispensable guide."
Timothy Beatley, Teresa Heinz Professor of Sustainable Communities, University of Virginia
"A long-awaited, clear and concise guide on how communities, land management and conservation entities can incorporate natural assets into their planning process for a viable return on their investment."
Nancy Stremple, National Urban Forestry Specialist, U.S. Forest Service
"Strategic Green Infrastructure Planning is practical and insightful. It provides a clear, step by step process for bringing consideration of green infrastructure into any community planning process. Based on years of real world expereince, it's a 'must read' for anyone interested in creating and sustaining communities that are ecologically and economically healthy."
William Jenkins, Former Director of the Maryland Green Infrastructure Assessment
"This book offers a comprehensive process that integrates conservation across scales. At a county level, there is always a need to link local conservation priorities with regional or statewide priorities, and this book’s approach readily translates across a range of stakeholder groups with varying interests and technical skill sets."
Amanda LaValle, Coordinator, Ulster County Department of the Environment
"The future of society depends on protection of natural capital that is the foundation of sustainable systems: green infrastructure. Firehock provides a well-documented and organized book about lessons learned from the efforts of the Green Infrastructure Center."
David Myers, Director, University of Maryland Landscape Architecture
Contents
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1. Green Infrastructure Overview
Chapter 2. The Need to Evaluate and Map Natural Features
Chapter 3. Organize Your Initiative
Chapter 4. How to Identify, Evaluate, and Prioritize Natural Assets
Chapter 5. Case Studies from Region to Site
Chapter 6. National Case Studies
Chapter 7. Using Models and Spatial Data to Create Natural Asset Maps
Bibliography
About the Author
Events
Strategic Green Infrastructure Planning Book Signing
Strategic Green Infrastructure Planning Book Signing
Monday, 29 February 2016 - 6:30pm
Troutman Sanders Richmond Office
1001 Haxall Point
Richmond, VA 23219
United StatesThe Green Infrastructure Center recently published Strategic Green Infrastructure Planning: A Multi-Scale Approach. Please join us to meet the authors of the book, Karen Firehock and Andrew Walker. They will give a brief presentation on how to assess, map and prioritize a community’s natural assets to better protect clean air and water, provide for recreation, reduce traffic, and make better-informed decisions about where and how to grow. The presentation will highlight projects in the Richmond area and elsewhere in Virginia, and explain how to complete this type of analysis on both a local and regional basis.
Following the presentation, Karen and Andrew will be on hand for a book signing. Books will be available for sale at the event for a discounted rate. Space is limited.
Karen Firehock: Using Green Infrastructure for Resilient Communities
Karen Firehock: Using Green Infrastructure for Resilient Communities
Saturday, 2 April 2016 - 9:00am
American Planning Association Conference
Phoenix Convention Center
100 N 3rd St
Phoenix, AZ 85004
United StatesJoin Karen Firehock at the Phoenix Convention Center on Saturday, April 2 at 9:00 am.
Join Strategic Green Infrastructure Planning author Karen Firehock at the American Planning Association's National Conference for a session entitled "Using Green Infrastrucutre for Resilient Communities." You’ll learn about:
- The factors that lead to a resilient community and how to develop an effective strategy
- The six-step process for evaluating natural assets, evaluating risks, and determining opportunities
- Assessment tools for achieving your objectives, from cost-efficiency to technical needs
- How to engage the community in fostering resilience
More details here.
Press Materials
Blogs
Green Infrastructure in Action: Urban Forests
Green Infrastructure in Action: Urban Forests
Over the past 75 years, American engineers have become very adept at managing water – collecting it, holding it and moving it away as fast as possible. Yet there is a better way to manage our water that costs far less.Rather than trying to push away water, we are finding ways to adaptively manage our water using natural features and functions. If we start to think of our urban forests as ‘green infrastructure’ then we can include them as solutions to urban stormwater runoff and flooding. American Forests has estimated the value of forests for flood mitigation and air quality benefits at $400 billion. Yet as climate change may increase the frequency of severe storms, our urban forests are at risk and need greater care and planning. New York City lost 8,000 trees during ‘Super Storm Sandy.’
Urban trees are critical to helping cities become more resilient. One mature urban tree can capture from 700 to 3000 gallons of water per year. Imagine what a million trees can capture! Cities such as New York, NY, Los Angeles, CA, Washington D.C., Pittsburgh, PA and Richmond, VA recognize that urban forests are critical to their resilience and have created robust urban forest programs. For example, Million Trees New York is poised to meet its ambitious planting goal within weeks and the newer Million Trees Los Angeles is underway, following New York’s success in recognizing the value of urban forests.
And forests don’t just hold and clean runoff, they also clean our drinking water and reduce treatment costs.The American Water Works Association found that adding just 10 percent more trees to a watershed reduces treatment costs by 20 percent. Trees also recharge the aquifer by holding the water and allowing it seep in instead of running off. To learn more about how to think of and plan for urban forests as part of ‘green infrastructure’ pick up a copy of Strategic Green Infrastructure Planning: A Multi-Scale Approach, out now from Island Press.
Karen Firehock
Karen Firehock is an environmental planner with more than 28 years of experience in planning and natural resources management. She co-founded the Green Infrastructure Center in 2006 and is its director. She is the author of Strategic Green Infrastructure Planning: A Multi-Scale Approach
