A systematic review of planning principles for green infrastructure in response to urban stormwater management

Abstract

With global warming and increasing urbanisation, cities are at significant risk of problems associated with stormwater. Green infrastructure (GI), a stormwater management tool in use worldwide, can reduce the risk of urban flooding significantly. This paper used bibliometrics to present the state of the literature on GI planning principles for stormwater management. The analysis reveals that the number of GI-related studies has grown exponentially in recent years and is most closely related to the discipline of environmental sciences/ecology, with the majority of output coming from the United States, China, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Furthermore, the inductive analysis of a database served to identify the nine most widely discussed principles for GI planning, which are adaptability, connectivity, diversity, multifunctionality, multiscale, informatisation, integration, public participation, and sustainability. These findings can inform GI efforts to cope with the risks of stormwater in the context of climate change.

Keywords:

• Green infrastructure
• planning principle
• stormwater
• low impact development
• sponge city
• water sensitive urban design
• sustainable urban drainage system

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Linfeng Huang

Linfeng Huang graduated from the University of Adelaide with a Master of Landscape Architecture. Her research and professional interests include water resource management, sustainable development and green infrastructure.