Overlooked considerations in prescribing green and blue infrastructure solutions for urban environments

Green and blue infrastructure (GBI) is emerging as a key strategy for climate adaptation and urban resilience, yet its implementation often faces critical contextual barriers. This review initially screened over 29,000 publications, ultimately synthesising more than 500 relevant studies supplemented by diverse expert input. The result is a novel integrative framework connects previously siloed knowledge and consolidates 21 underexplored barriers across four key domains of GBI implementation: environmental, social, economic, and governance/policy. Environmental barriers include conflicts between GBI and renewable energy goals, specifically photovoltaics, unintended consequences of GBI (such as allergenic pollen production), urban ventilation disruption, and vulnerability of plant species to multiple urban stressors. Effective responses include thoughtful allocation and integration of photovoltaics and GBI, developing context-specific frameworks combining ecological knowledge with technological innovation, fostering cross-disciplinary collaboration across technical and social domains, science-based species selection and implementing multi-scalar strategies that enhance ecological connectivity. Social barriers encompass environmental injustice, cultural disconnection, limited public adoption, safety concerns, and aesthetic preferences favouring manicured over ecologically functional landscapes. These challenges highlight the need for participatory design, culturally responsive planning, and inclusive resource allocation to strengthen community engagement and long-term stewardship. Economic barriers stem from biodiversity undervaluation, inadequate asset recognition in accounting frameworks, incomplete cost-benefit analyses, and limited private investment. Innovative financing tools like green bonds and debt-for-nature swaps offer promising mechanisms for resilient financing, while standardised natural capital accounting frameworks can better capture GBI's multifunctional value. Governance barriers include land scarcity, urban design limitations, policy fragmentation, and disconnects with other urban agendas like walkability. Overcoming these requires institutional realignment, cross-sectoral collaboration, and integrated spatial planning. The review unifies these findings into 12 actionable recommendations to support holistic decision-making, emphasising that effective GBI implementation demands context-specific strategies combining innovation, inclusive governance, and long-term stewardship to mainstream GBI in sustainable urban development.

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Publication Details

Journal
The Innovation
Published
2025-11-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xinn.2025.101184
Citations
2
Primary Topic
Urban Green Space and Health
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
2.40
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Overlooked considerations in prescribing green and blue infrastructure solutions for urban environments

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2 citations
The Innovation
Urban Green Space and Health
2.40
article

Overlooked considerations in prescribing green and blue infrastructure solutions for urban environments

Shi‐Jie Cao, Larissa Aguiar dos Santos Paiva, Leila Droprinchinski Martins, Chang Xi, Erick Giovani Sperandio Nascimento, Sarkawt Hama, Marcos Jerônimo Goroski Rambalducci, Hannah Wood, Laurence Jones, Willian Lemker Andreão, Augusto Akio Lucchezi Miyahara, Paula Lelis Rabelo Albala, John Lemons, Colin Horton, Bruna Lima Véras Maia, Brian Considine, Regina Maura de Miranda, Ronaldo Adriano Alves, Bruno Furieri, Maurício Cruz Mantoani, Veronica Soebarto, María de Fátima Andrade, Hari Prasad Pandey, Thiago Nogueira, Giuliano Maselli Locosselli, Christos H. Halios, Taciana Toledo de Almeida Albuquerque, H. Christopher Frey, Karina Corada, Madhusudan Katti, Devendra Saroj, R. Jones, Meredith P. Martin, Yonatal Tefera, Ruidong Chang, Amarílis Lucia Casteli Figueiredo Gallardo, Paulo Sérgio Lopes de Souza, Neyval Costa Reis, Pelayo Martínez, Maria Athanassiadou, Roberta Consentino Kronka Mülfarth, Shelagh K. Malham, Marco A. Franco, Leonardo Hoinaski, Jorge Alberto Martins, Gwilym Owen, Runming Yao, Prabin Bhusal, Janaina Antonino Pinto, Rizzieri Pedruzzi, Aonghus McNabola, Gustavo Machado, Camilo Bastos Ribeiro, Eugene Mohareb, Akash Biswal, Maria Clara V.M. Starling, Otavio Medeiros Sobrinho, John Kandulu, Hao Sun, Rajan Parajuli, Yasmin Kaore Lago Kitagawa, Carmel Williams, Edmílson Dias de Freitas, Leandro Luiz Giatti, Anderson Paulo Rudke, Ajit Ahlawat, Leticia Figueiredo Candido, Robson Will, Yuhan Huang, Jannis Wenk, Fang Wang, Prashant Kumar, Soheila Khalili, John Gallagher, Shila Pokhrel, E A Santos, R.B. Yates, Amanda Karine Chaves Ribeiro, Yifan Sui, Qingyun Wu, Bonnie G. Buchanan, Felicity Haris, Marco F. Funari, Miguel Luiz Bucalem, Anubhav Kumar Dwivedi, Jorge Armando Piscoya Santibañez
article en
2 citations

Abstract

Green and blue infrastructure (GBI) is emerging as a key strategy for climate adaptation and urban resilience, yet its implementation often faces critical contextual barriers. This review initially screened over 29,000 publications, ultimately synthesising more than 500 relevant studies supplemented by diverse expert input. The result is a novel integrative framework connects previously siloed knowledge and consolidates 21 underexplored barriers across four key domains of GBI implementation: environmental, social, economic, and governance/policy. Environmental barriers include conflicts between GBI and renewable energy goals, specifically photovoltaics, unintended consequences of GBI (such as allergenic pollen production), urban ventilation disruption, and vulnerability of plant species to multiple urban stressors. Effective responses include thoughtful allocation and integration of photovoltaics and GBI, developing context-specific frameworks combining ecological knowledge with technological innovation, fostering cross-disciplinary collaboration across technical and social domains, science-based species selection and implementing multi-scalar strategies that enhance ecological connectivity. Social barriers encompass environmental injustice, cultural disconnection, limited public adoption, safety concerns, and aesthetic preferences favouring manicured over ecologically functional landscapes. These challenges highlight the need for participatory design, culturally responsive planning, and inclusive resource allocation to strengthen community engagement and long-term stewardship. Economic barriers stem from biodiversity undervaluation, inadequate asset recognition in accounting frameworks, incomplete cost-benefit analyses, and limited private investment. Innovative financing tools like green bonds and debt-for-nature swaps offer promising mechanisms for resilient financing, while standardised natural capital accounting frameworks can better capture GBI's multifunctional value. Governance barriers include land scarcity, urban design limitations, policy fragmentation, and disconnects with other urban agendas like walkability. Overcoming these requires institutional realignment, cross-sectoral collaboration, and integrated spatial planning. The review unifies these findings into 12 actionable recommendations to support holistic decision-making, emphasising that effective GBI implementation demands context-specific strategies combining innovation, inclusive governance, and long-term stewardship to mainstream GBI in sustainable urban development.

The Innovation
Openalex Percentile: Top 10%
Urban Green Space and Health
2.40
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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