Green infrastructures for urban sustainability: Issues, implications, and solutions for underdeveloped areas

The expanding cities of the developing world present one of the major global challenges related to energy, climate, and human wellbeing. Green infrastructures (GI) are often very poor or lacking; particularly in low-income areas. The field of GI however demands revising or expanding in the light of the more recent topics of climate, emissions, and public health. Rapid urbanisation in developing countries is where the largest increases in energy use and climate emissions are occurring; and the urban heat island effect risks making many cities virtually unliveable. To integrate environmental and human/social goals we consider the following infrastructural amenities: water, sanitation, energy, ventilation, indoor and outdoor urban environment, health, and community. There is a need firstly, to combine – and integrate – conventional GI concepts with newer considerations of energy, emissions and health. Since GI is most often applied in relatively affluent contexts, a second need addressed is the potential for simple, low-cost GI solutions for underdeveloped urban areas. This study thus advocates an integrated perception of relatively well-known elements. We, thus, also argue that GI deserves greatly increased attention in the light of progress in the ecological sciences and technologies, the urban heat island problem, and today's understanding of urban sustainability.