Developing key sustainability indicators for assessing green infrastructure performance

摘要

In recent years, integrated networks of green spaces at city scale, or "green infrastructure" (GI), are seen increasingly as fundamental to the delivery of ecosystem services for human and environmental health. A range of models that assess the performance of specific aspects and elements related to GI have been developed in response. However, there is no model that is comprehensive and integrative across all types of GI and ecosystem services. This paper aims to suggest a set of potential indicators that facilitate the development of an inclusive model for the sustainability assessment of GI performance. This research is based on the findings from a previous study conducted by the authors that identified definitions, types and conceptual framework of GI as well as thirty performance indicators through reviewing literature and incorporating results from semi-structured interviews involving twenty-one selected Australian representative experts. This analysis was combined with input from 373 national and international stakeholders through an online questionnaire to establish an integrated framework by weighting, screening and aggregating selected indicators. This framework comprises a reduced set of sixteen potential indicators based on experts' perspectives which represent the key interactions between human health, ecosystem services and ecosystem health across four dimensions (ecological, economic, socio-cultural and health). Future research will involve testing this proposed framework and providing a platform for decision-makers to test various scenarios based on the base case and existing conditions to provide an early warning of changes in the sustainability levels in the urban environment.