GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE VS GREY INFRASTRUCTURE.

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 What is green infrastructure and grey infrastructure?

One of the challenges surrounding green infrastructure and grey infrastructure is a lack of clear, consistent definitions of the terms. Green infrastructure and grey infrastructure can both refer to work outside of water, such as buildings or transport; however, each of these can also impact water management.

Green infrastructure is the “strategic use of networks of natural lands, working landscapes, and other open spaces to conserve ecosystem values and functions and provide associated benefits to human populations” 

Blue-green infrastructure is also a term used interchangeably with green infrastructure to describe things like rain gardens or reed beds that treat wastewater. Green infrastructure is generally decentralized; water is captured and treated where it falls, rather than being transported to a treatment facility.  

Grey infrastructure refers to the human-engineered infrastructure for water resources such as water and wastewater treatment plants, pipelines, and reservoirs. Grey infrastructure typically refers to components of a centralized approach to water management.

Green infrastructure terminology can also be used in the context of low impact development (LID).

Challenges of grey and green infrastructure

Compared to green infrastructure, grey infrastructure currently has a clearer asset life, depreciation, and return on investment.

Challenges surrounding grey infrastructure include funding and public investment, maintenance, and increased urbanization. Urbanization presents a water management challenge because the introduction of more hard surfaces, like concrete or asphalt, contributes to higher volumes of storm-water runoff due to a reduction of infiltration. Due to its relative size, construction requirements, and finite life, grey infrastructure can also be seen as inflexible.

Green infrastructure presents challenges in terms of measuring return on investment, risk management, and effectiveness in urban areas. Current regulation—or absence of regulation—at the federal, provincial, and local levels also presents obstacles, as many green infrastructure projects don’t fit traditional wastewater treatment construction models, so they may not be standards or building/urban codes to govern how the projects should be implemented . 

As a largely untested concept, green infrastructure also faces scientific uncertainty, socio-political uncertainty/acceptance, and decision making uncertainty.

Knowledge and experience for people making decisions and designing and operating green infrastructure presents challenges for traditional approaches. For instance, green infrastructure is thought of more as an urban design, due to the scale and dispersed nature of the works, compared to a large, engineering-focused infrastructure project.

 

Measuring green infrastructure effectiveness

Measuring the effectiveness of green infrastructure has resulted in the development of new frameworks, and adaptation of existing frameworks, in the context of water management. The following are some examples of frameworks:

Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI)

This is a broader metric developed to address the shortcomings of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a measure of total well being. It was first published in the late 1980s and has been vetted in scientific literature since that time.

In a practical application example, the U.S. city of Baltimore used GPI to quantify the economic benefits of their Stormwater Management Plan. This preliminary analysis recognizes that more precise economic data on costs and benefits of programs will become available, and the analysis will be updated as a result.

Green versus Gray Analysis (GGA)

The U.S. Center for Sustainable Economy and other partners developed the Green vs. Gray Analysis (GGA) which extends conventional public infrastructure analysis models to evaluate the cost effectiveness of technological solutions like new reservoirs. This is accomplished by factoring the unique role wetlands, forests, riparian zones, and other green infrastructure elements play in enhancing water quality and flow or achieving other environmental objectives. GGA is used to determine whether investing in these green infrastructure options is a more cost effective approach (or similar in cost) than grey infrastructure .

Green Infrastructure Valuation Toolkit

The Natural Economy Northwest programme (U.K.) and partners developed this framework for assessing the potential economic and wider returns from investment in green infrastructure and environmental improvements . .

Green Value Calculator

This calculator by The Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) in the U.S. compares performance, costs, and benefits of green infrastructure and low impact development solutions for storm water management. 






with all these terms , let me define the term URBAN GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE : 
"In the urban environment, green infrastructure covers everything from parks to street trees and green roofs to bioswales -- really anything that helps absorb, delay, and treat stormwater, mitigating flooding and pollution downstream. ... Urban greenery has also been proven to improve mental health and well-being."



Well i need to write more to give more clear concept and benefits to the planners who are reading this. but due to lack of time we will discuss these topics later. HAPPY 2021 GUYS 😇. Hope you will enjoy new 365 pages of your life and make it memorable.

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