Investigating stakeholder perspectives in urban runoff control through green infrastructure ecosystem services

ABSTRACT A conceptual diagram illustrating how stakeholders collaborate on Green Infrastructure including Bioretention Cells, Rain Gardens, and Vegetative Swales. The goal is to achieve Urban Runoff Control, leading to Water Quality Improvement, Groundwater Recharge, Climate Adaptation, and ultimately Urban Resilience and Sustainability. Green Infrastructure (GI) ecosystem services (ES) must be linked to stakeholder demand to control urban runoff. Understanding stakeholder knowledge, perceptions, and priorities in GI decision-making can improve urban water management, but semi-arid situations generally lack such insights. The structured questionnaire was completed by 84.9% of government and nongovernment leaders, city officials, water businesses, academics, and community groups. It assesses stakeholders' knowledge of local environmental challenges, runoff management, and GI's potential to sustain urban water. Results indicate that population increase and climate change significantly impact local water supplies, prompting stakeholders to prioritize flood mitigation, water quality improvement, groundwater recharge, and water harvesting. Despite worries regarding maintenance costs and ecological trade-offs, 95% of stakeholders were familiar with GI as a sustainable urban runoff management option and 98% supported it. Cluster analysis revealed a unique classification of ES based on local environmental concerns, including hydrological regulation and climate adaptation, for the semi-arid Darabad basin in Tehran, Iran. The results show that merging stakeholder information and concerns with ES supply and demand can improve GI planning and implementation, making urban water more sustainable and climate-resilient. They also emphasize stakeholder participation for GI-based urban runoff mitigation in semi-arid cities with similar environmental challenges.