Abstract for: Green-blue infrastructure implementation in urban areas: tradeoffs, synergies, and co-benefits

Urban areas must adapt to climate change, and green-blue infrastructure (GBI; parks and green spaces, often with water elements) is an integral part of the solution. With GBI, cities can manage stormwater infiltration and buffer against flood events while providing other benefits in urban areas. Societal benefits (also called ecosystem services or co-benefits) in the urban context include recreation, aesthetics, climate regulation, and pollinator habitat. Many studies of urban GBI focus on the spatial aspects of the infrastructure with comparatively little consideration of change over time. This project aims to create a system dynamics learning tool that can be used by stakeholders such as land use planners and local politicians to explore different scenarios for implementing GBI. As climate change exacerbates the need for rapid transformation of urban infrastructure, cities that have understood the underlying dynamics, tradeoffs, and synergies will be able to make more strategic decisions to improve stormwater management while ensuring supply of GBI co-benefits can meet societal demand.