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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Interdisciplinary Climate Studies
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2024.1456519
This article is part of the Research Topic Nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation View all 9 articles

A Menu of Standards for Green Infrastructure in England: Effective and equitable or a race to the bottom?

Provisionally accepted
Mike Grace Mike Grace 1*Alison Smith Alison Smith 2Ian Mell Ian Mell 3*Jane Houghton Jane Houghton 4Peter Neal Peter Neal 5
  • 1 Birmingham City University, Birmingham, United Kingdom
  • 2 University of Oxford, Oxford, England, United Kingdom
  • 3 The University of Manchester, Manchester, England, United Kingdom
  • 4 Natural England, Sheffield, United Kingdom
  • 5 Peter Neal Consulting, London, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Multi-functional urban green infrastructure (GI) can deliver nature-based solutions that help address climate change, while providing wider benefits for human health and biodiversity. However, this will only be achieved effectively, sustainably and equitably if GI is carefully planned, implemented and maintained to a high standard, in partnership with stakeholders. This paper draws on original research into the design of a menu of GI standards for England, commissioned by Natural England, a UK Government agency. It describes the evolution of the standards within the context of UK government policy initiatives for nature and climate. We show how existing standards and guidelines were curated into a comprehensive framework consisting of a Core Menu and five Headline Standards. This moved beyond simplistic metrics such as total green space, to deliver GI that meets five key 'descriptive principles': accessible, connected, locally distinctive, multi-functional and varied, and thus delivers 5 benefits principles': places that are nature rich and beautiful, active and healthy, thriving and prosperous, resilient and climate positive, and with improved water management It also builds in process guidance, bringing together stakeholders to co-ordinate GI development strategically across different sectors. Drawing on stakeholder feedback, we evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the standards and discuss how they provide clarity and consistency while balancing tensions between top-down targets and the need for flexibility to meet local needs. A crucial factor is the delivery of the standards within a framework of supporting tools, advice and guidance, to help planners with limited resources deliver more effective and robust green infrastructure with multiple benefits.

    Keywords: green infrastructure, Nature-based solutions, Standards, Planning policy, climate change adaptation, Accessible greenspace, multifunctionality

    Received: 28 Jun 2024; Accepted: 04 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Grace, Smith, Mell, Houghton and Neal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Mike Grace, Birmingham City University, Birmingham, United Kingdom
    Ian Mell, The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, England, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.