A comparative analysis of international guidelines for green infrastructure performance assessment

Abstract

ABSTRACT Natural or semi-natural elements, referred to by various terms such as green infrastructure (GI), are increasingly adopted as a win-win solution to develop water-wise, climate-resilient, and sustainable societies. Accordingly, a comprehensive performance assessment of GIs is necessary for their management, making them more appealing to multiple sectors, and improving funding prospects. Several guidelines proposing performance and impact indicators have been developed worldwide recently. To evaluate their applicability, this study critically examines some of the most well-known of them from various parts of the world that deal with the evaluation of different functional aspects of GIs. Findings show considerable differences. The European guideline is the most comprehensive one considering the number of addressed performance indicators. In contrast, the Chinese standard mostly focuses on water quality/quantity performance. Moreover, the degree of quality of the guidelines is evaluated using a thorough set of quality measures that consists of 19 criteria. By addressing 12 out of the 19 quality criteria, the European and state of New South Wales standards encompassed more guideline compilation requirements than the others. However, the way in which assessed performance indicators should be interpreted is one instance where a gap in the present standards is believed to be especially significant.