More Than Open Space! The Case for Green Infrastructure Teaching in Planning Curricula

Abstract

Since the mid-1990s, the concept of Green Infrastructure (GI) has been gaining traction in fields such as ecology and forestry, (landscape) architecture, environmental and hydrological engineering, public health as well as urban and regional planning. Definitions and aims ascribed to GI vary. Yet, agreement broadly exists on GI’s ability to contribute to sustainability by means of supporting, for example, biodiversity, human and animal health, and storm water management as well as mitigating urban heat island effects. Given an acknowledged role of planners in delivering sustainable cities and towns, professional bodies have highlighted the need for spatial planners to understand and implement GI. This raises questions of what sort of GI knowledge planners may require and moreover by whom and how GI knowledge and competencies may be conveyed? Examining knowledge and skills needs vis-à-vis GI education opportunities indicates a provision reliant primarily on continued professional education and limited ad hoc opportunities in Higher Education. The resulting knowledge base appears fragmented with limited theoretical foundations leading the authors to argue that a systematic inclusion of green infrastructure knowledges in initial planning education is needed to promote and aid effective GI implementation.

Evaluation of built environment programmes accreditation in the 21st century education system in Nigeria: stakeholders' perspective

“…Eksteen (1999) identified mechanisms such as the modularisation of course content to promote mobility. The concept of green infrastructure teaching in curricula has gained more attention from mid-1990s to date in many developed countries (Frank et al. , 2021).…”

“…Eksteen (1999) identified mechanisms such as the modularisation of course content to promote mobility. The concept of green infrastructure teaching in curricula has gained more attention from mid-1990s to date in many developed countries (Frank et al, 2021). The authors argued that the inclusion in the built environment curricula would promote green infrastructure implementation, a component of construction sustainability.…”

“…The measures adopted globally to improve the global ranking accreditation include modularisation of course content (Eksteen, 1999) and compliance with institutional norms (Ahrens and Khalifa, 2015). Also used are a review of the construction education curriculum (Akinshipe and Aigbavboa, 2018), education for sustainable development (Mula et al, 2017;Biasutti et al, 2018;Fiselier et al, 2018), digital transformational change (Underwood and Shelbourn, 2021), and green infrastructure teaching in curricula (Frank et al, 2021). Others are institutional values and ethics, industry-academiaresearch lab collaborations, improving international students' enrollment (Fernandes and Singh, 2021), and developing a framework to detect and prevent accreditation fraud (De Souza-Daw and Ross, 2021).…”

“…, 2018; Fiselier et al. , 2018), digital transformational change (Underwood and Shelbourn, 2021), and green infrastructure teaching in curricula (Frank et al. , 2021).…”