The contested nature of urban resilience: A Green Infrastructure Spatial Planning model for evaluating ecosystem service tradeoffs and synergies in three coastal megacities

A growing number of cities are expanding green infrastructure to foster resilience. While these nature-based solutions are often promoted on the basis of their multifunctionality, in practice, most studies and plans focus on a... [ view full abstract ]

A growing number of cities are expanding green infrastructure to foster resilience. While these nature-based solutions are often promoted on the basis of their multifunctionality, in practice, most studies and plans focus on a single benefit, such as stormwater management. This represents a missed opportunity to strategically site green infrastructure to leverage social and ecological co-benefits. To address this gap, this paper presents the Green Infrastructure Spatial Planning (GISP) model as a tool for identifying and comparing spatial tradeoffs and synergistic ‘hotspots’ for multiple benefits in three diverse coastal megacities: New York City, Los Angeles (United States), and Manila (Philippines). Spatial multi-criteria evaluation is used to examine how strategic areas for green infrastructure development across the cities change depending on which benefit is prioritized. GIS layers corresponding to six planning priorities (managing stormwater, reducing social vulnerability, increasing access to green space, improving air quality, reducing the urban heat island effect, and increasing landscape connectivity) are mapped using existing datasets and spatial tradeoffs assessed. Criteria are weighted to reflect local stakeholders’ priorities as determined through surveys and stakeholder meetings, and the combined results visualized. The results empirically illustrate the complexities of planning green infrastructure and urban resilience more generally.