Situating Green Infrastructure in Context: A Framework for Adaptive Socio-Hydrology in Cities

Management of urban hydrologic processes using green infrastructure (GI) has largely focused on storm water management. Thus, design and implementation of GI usually rely on physical site characteristics and local rainfall patterns, and do not typically account for human or social dimensions. This traditional approach leads to highly centralized storm water management in a disconnected urban landscape and can deemphasize additional benefits that GI offers, such as increased property value, greenspace aesthetics, heat island amelioration, carbon sequestration, and habitat for biodiversity. We propose the Framework for Adaptive Socio-Hydrology (FrASH) in which GI planning and implementation moves from a purely hydrology-driven perspective to an integrated sociohydrological approach. This allows for an iterative, multifaceted decision-making process that would enable a network of stakeholders to collaboratively set a dynamic, context-guided project plan for the installation of GI, rather than a one-size-fits-all'' installation. We explain how different sectors (e.g., governance, nongovernmental organizations, communities, academia, and industry) can create a connected network of organizations that work toward a common goal. Through a graphical Chambered Nautilus model, FrASH is experimentally applied to contrasting GI case studies and shows that this multistakeholder, connected, decentralized network with a coevolving decision-making project plan results in enhanced multifunctionality, potentially allowing for the management of resilience in urban systems at multiple scales. Plain Language Summary What is green infrastructure? A rain garden? Or a nicely maintained yard? Is it a planted space in a city that might catch a little rain and prevent puddling on the sidewalk? It is all of these, but green infrastructure is also about managing water, how people engage with water, and their environment. How do we know if green infrastructure is attractive? Who wanted it, and why? Our research recognizes that there are social and technological dimensions to green infrastructure, and to be successful at both, we need to connect people's interests with the technical side. We looked at common issues in linking social sciences with hydrology and gave it this name: Framework for Adaptive Socio-Hydrology (FrASH). With FrASH we explain the importance of including people and their needs in the green infrastructure design process to avoid one-size-fits-all'' installations. Our colored graphics show how different sectors (e.g., governance) or their services (e.g., ecosystem services) can create a connected network of organizations that work toward the common goal of designing green space. With these examples, we highlight that FrASH can give citizens a way of investing in and managing their environment through this broader conception of green infrastructure.