What Green Infrastructure Is Not!

Green Infrastructure is more than that!

Green Infrastructure can mean different things to different people.  Below is a short list of elements of this initiative to help us know what is NOT a part of GI.

1. A program

GI is a philosophy or organizational strategy that provides a framework for planning conservation and development.

2. A panacea

GI cannot be everything to everyone.  Like any planning effort, green infrastructure requires tradeoffs among priorities to be made.

3. A short-term solution

Planning, design, and management of GI require a long-term commitment.

4. An isolated effort

GI requires the coordination of many people.

5. A government program

Although often led by state, regional, or local government, GI relies on all sectors of the community, including private landowners.

6. Smart growth, no growth, or antidevelopment

Used in conjunction with other planning processes, GI may be used to guide the pattern of growth, but it does not dictate whether growth will occur.  Unlike other conservation approaches, GI provides for development and other changes in land use.

7. Elitist

All people within a community or region benefit from GI planning and implementation.

8. A system of greenways

Greenways may be an important component of GI, but GI has broader ecological goals.

9. Schoolyards, playgrounds, or other parcels of green space

These may be part of a GI initiative, but they may not share the ecological or environmental goals of GI.

Source: Mark A. Benedict and Edward T. McMahon.  Green Infrastructure: Linking Landscapes and Communities (2006).  The Conservation Fund: Island Press.