The water-management aspect of blue-green infrastructure in cities
The water-management aspect of blue-green infrastructure in cities

Summary/Abstract: Blue-green infrastructure (BGI) consists of natural and semi-natural (hence green) decentralized systems for urban stormwater management (hence blue), which, in addition to their primary purpose, provide a variety of shared benefits and ecosystem services. With the exception of a few cities that have adopted strategies for systemic BGI implementation, its use is still sporadic, in the form of isolated best practices, and is absent from Slovenian cities. Due to established spatial planning practices, Slovenian cities have a sufficient amount of relatively evenly distributed green areas, but these are not planned according to BGI principles and therefore their potential for managing stormwater is not utilized (i.e., water-wise multifunctionality). Because urban space management and its associated elements are a multidisciplinary field, we explored the link between spatial planning and water management in international strategic documents and in Slovenian national legislation. Based on a literature review, such connections are promoted at the international level; however, they are not sufficiently integrated in national legislation. Thus, a sectoral approach to water management and urban planning still prevails in Slovenian cities. Four examples of systemic BGI implementation (Rotterdam, Copenhagen, Philadelphia, and Chinese cities) are presented here. They link spatial planning and water management in BGI design and implementation. The results of this analysis were used to develop recommendations on integrating spatial planning and water management that go beyond sectoral urban space management, aiming to facilitate BGI implementation in (Slovenian) cities.

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