What is green infrastructure?
An evaluation of green infrastructure plans from across the United States
By:
Timothy Dennis Youngquist
A thesis submitted to the graduate faculty
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL PLANNING
Major: Community and Regional Planning
Program of Study Committee
Tara Clapp, Major Professor
Douglas Johnston
Richard Schultz
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa
2009
Copyright © Timothy Dennis Youngquist, 2009. All rights reserved.
Abstract
The degradation of the natural environment has led city planners to consider green infrastructure, which includes much broader, regional goals that focus on landscape scale processes. This thesis explores green infrastructure planning, which builds on the goals of previous land use strategies. Green infrastructure is defined as an interconnected network of green spaces, which, when serving as the basis for development, can enhance the relationship between the human built environment and the natural environment. Environmental planning strategies have shown increasing complexity and scope during the last half century. Previous environmental planning strategies have failed to adequately address problems of land fragmentation and natural resource pollution. Haphazard planning efforts have helped to foster an environment in which urban development is out of balance with nature. The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate green infrastructure plans from across the United States and to determine whether green infrastructure is fundamentally different from previous environmental strategies and if green infrastructure is being applied to plans from within the United States. Plans were chosen from jurisdictions that are experiencing rapid population growth and land consumption. The framework for plan evaluation includes four primary stages of plan development: goal setting, analysis, synthesis, and implementation. Direct content analysis is used to determine the extent to which each plan contains the guiding principles of green infrastructure theory.
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