Abstract
Green infrastructure (GI) initiatives, including programs to plant trees and install bioswales, have been adopted by a growing number of local government and non-governmental organizations. While the details of these programs vary, a common characteristic of most Canadian and US GI initiatives is a distributed approach that includes both public and private land. To date, little research has explored residents’ knowledge of GI or their engagement with related initiatives even though residents’ installation of GI is often key to creating distributed GI networks. In this study, we (1) assess residents’ knowledge of the term GI, (2) identify residents’ level of engagement with GI initiatives, and (3) examine whether factors like level of concern about local environmental issues can predict GI knowledge or level of engagement with GI initiatives. We explored these objectives through a survey of residents in Toronto (Ontario, Canada) and Philadelphia (Pennsylvania, US). We found that about a quarter of survey respondents in both cities had previously heard the term “green infrastructure”. Neither knowledge of GI nor level of engagement with GI initiatives could be predicted by the level of concern about local environmental issues, but residents’ interest in using their outdoor space for nature activities (e.g., gardening) predicted GI knowledge in both cities and level of initiative engagement in Philadelphia. Our results suggest the need for widespread education campaigns that clearly define GI so that residents can be participants in policy discussions, link it with their needs, and identify ways to manage GI to create desired benefits.
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Acknowledgements
Funding was provided by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada. The Pennsylvania Horticulture Society provided administrative support for the Philadelphia survey. Thank you to Janet McKay, Glen Abrams, Zachary Popkin, Erica Smith, Jeanne Waldowski, and Tiffany Ledesma for providing feedback on earlier versions of the survey. The findings and conclusions in this publication are those of the authors and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or US Government determination or policy.
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Funding was provided by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada.
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The ethics protocol guiding the survey used in this study was approved by the University of Toronto (No. 36051) and Temple University (No. 25155) Ethic Review Boards.
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Conway, T.M., Ordóñez, C., Roman, L.A. et al. Resident Knowledge of and Engagement with Green Infrastructure in Toronto and Philadelphia. Environmental Management 68, 566–579 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-021-01515-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-021-01515-5