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About

Just as we rely on roads, electrical grids, and communication systems to support our communities and society, we also rely on robust networks of natural and environmental features that provide invaluable streams of ecosystem services — our green infrastructure systems. Green infrastructure refers to the networks of multifunctional ecological features and green spaces interwoven among our urbanizing regions that provide a valuable range of environmental, social, and economic benefits to people living and working there. As green infrastructure gains traction as a solution to solve many of the sustainability challenges facing our cities, it runs the risk of becoming pigeon holed as a technical solution to a specific problem — in this case, stormwater management. Managing water quality is crucial, but to lose sight of the dynamic and multidimensional nature of green infrastructure at all scales would be trade-off the full range of ecosystem services offered by a robust ecological network for piecemeal pockets of permeability.

This website, built and maintained by Virginia Tech’s Center for Leadership in Global Sustainability and the National Association of Regional Councils with support from the US Forest Service as a portal and resource bank for information about green infrastructure in its broadest sense.  Here, we provide information about the full range of reasons cities, communities, and regions have decided to invest in green infrastructure, some of the financing strategies for doing so, case studies of innovative policies, tools, and programs to advance green infrastructure, innovative tools and research being developed around green infrastructure, and much more.  We hope you will find this site useful.  If there are elements or information you would like us to include, please email us.