TY - JOUR
T1 - A systematic review of the human health and social well-being outcomes of green infrastructure for stormwater and flood management
AU - Venkataramanan, Vidya
AU - Packman, Aaron I.
AU - Peters, Daniel R.
AU - Lopez, Denise
AU - McCuskey, David J.
AU - McDonald, Robert I.
AU - Miller, William M.
AU - Young, Sera L.
N1 - Funding Information:
We greatly appreciate Joshua Miller and Marianne "Vicky" Santoso from The Young Research Group for their suggestions on the structure of our figures. We are also grateful to Dawn Walker and Linda Young from the Center for Neighborhood Technology for their conceptual feedback. Funding: This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1848683 . This work was also supported by Leslie and Mac McQuown and by the Resnick Family Social Impact Fund, Institute for Sustainability and Energy, Northwestern University .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2019/9/15
Y1 - 2019/9/15
N2 - Background: The increase in frequency and intensity of urban flooding is a global challenge. Flooding directly impacts residents of industrialized cities with aging combined sewer systems, as well as cities with less centralized infrastructure to manage stormwater, fecal sludge, and wastewater. Green infrastructure is growing in popularity as a sustainable strategy to mimic nature-based flood management. Although its technical performance has been extensively studied, little is known about the effects of green stormwater infrastructure on human health and social well-being. Methods: We conducted a multidisciplinary systematic review of peer-reviewed and gray literature on the effects of green infrastructure for stormwater and flood management on individuals', households', and communities’ a) physical health; b) mental health; c) economic well-being; and d) flood resilience and social acceptance of green infrastructure. We systematically searched databases such as PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus; the first 300 results in Google Scholar; and websites of key organizations including the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Study quality and strength of evidence was assessed for included studies, and descriptive data were extracted for a narrative summary. Results: Out of 21,213 initial results, only 18 studies reported health or social well-being outcomes. Seven of these studies used primary data, and none allowed for causal inference. No studies connected green infrastructure for stormwater and flood management to mental or physical health outcomes. Thirteen studies were identified on economic outcomes, largely reporting a positive association between green infrastructure and property values. Five studies assessed changes in perceptions about green infrastructure, but with mixed results. Nearly half of all included studies were from Portland, Oregon. Conclusions: This global systematic review highlights the minimal evidence on human health and social well-being relating to green infrastructure for stormwater and flood management. To enable scale-up of this type of infrastructure to reduce flooding and improve ecological and human well-being, widespread acceptance of green infrastructure will be essential. Policymakers and planners need evidence on the full range of benefits from different contexts to enable financing and implementation of instfrastructure options, especially in highly urbanized, flood-prone settings around the world. Therefore, experts in social science, public health, and program evaluation must be integrated into interdisciplinary green infrastructure research to better relate infrastructure design to tangible human outcomes.
AB - Background: The increase in frequency and intensity of urban flooding is a global challenge. Flooding directly impacts residents of industrialized cities with aging combined sewer systems, as well as cities with less centralized infrastructure to manage stormwater, fecal sludge, and wastewater. Green infrastructure is growing in popularity as a sustainable strategy to mimic nature-based flood management. Although its technical performance has been extensively studied, little is known about the effects of green stormwater infrastructure on human health and social well-being. Methods: We conducted a multidisciplinary systematic review of peer-reviewed and gray literature on the effects of green infrastructure for stormwater and flood management on individuals', households', and communities’ a) physical health; b) mental health; c) economic well-being; and d) flood resilience and social acceptance of green infrastructure. We systematically searched databases such as PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus; the first 300 results in Google Scholar; and websites of key organizations including the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Study quality and strength of evidence was assessed for included studies, and descriptive data were extracted for a narrative summary. Results: Out of 21,213 initial results, only 18 studies reported health or social well-being outcomes. Seven of these studies used primary data, and none allowed for causal inference. No studies connected green infrastructure for stormwater and flood management to mental or physical health outcomes. Thirteen studies were identified on economic outcomes, largely reporting a positive association between green infrastructure and property values. Five studies assessed changes in perceptions about green infrastructure, but with mixed results. Nearly half of all included studies were from Portland, Oregon. Conclusions: This global systematic review highlights the minimal evidence on human health and social well-being relating to green infrastructure for stormwater and flood management. To enable scale-up of this type of infrastructure to reduce flooding and improve ecological and human well-being, widespread acceptance of green infrastructure will be essential. Policymakers and planners need evidence on the full range of benefits from different contexts to enable financing and implementation of instfrastructure options, especially in highly urbanized, flood-prone settings around the world. Therefore, experts in social science, public health, and program evaluation must be integrated into interdisciplinary green infrastructure research to better relate infrastructure design to tangible human outcomes.
KW - Chronic urban flooding
KW - Green infrastructure
KW - Health outcomes
KW - Interdisciplinary research
KW - Program evaluation
KW - Stormwater management
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.05.028
DO - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.05.028
M3 - Review article
C2 - 31252249
AN - SCOPUS:85067656677
SN - 0301-4797
VL - 246
SP - 868
EP - 880
JO - Journal of Environmental Management
JF - Journal of Environmental Management
ER -