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ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEWS AND CASE STUDIES: Advancing Green Infrastructure at All Scales: From Landscape to Site

William L. Allen III^a1 c1

^a1 Director of Strategic Conservation, The Conservation Fund, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Abstract

Over the past decade, green infrastructure has evolved from a novel buzzword into a recognized planning practice. Definitions of green infrastructure inevitably have been tailored to appeal to diverse constituents with message points that address a particular professional discipline or resource issue. Commonly accepted definitions emphasize the interconnected network concept and are mostly differentiated by the scale at which green infrastructure planning is implemented. This commentary lays out an operational framework for green infrastructure that can be advanced at all scales, from the largest landscape to the smallest site, and illustrates examples of operationalizing the framework at each scale. What is ultimately needed is a seamless quilt of planning and implementation across scales and jurisdictional boundaries that make sense in terms of their benefits but also in terms of their economics, and every one can play a part in making that a reality in their communities.

Environmental Practice 14:17–25 (2012)

(Received June 28 2011)

(Revised August 31 2011)

(Accepted September 01 2011)

(Online publication March 09 2012)

Correspondence:

^c1 William L. Allen III, Director of Strategic Conservation, The Conservation Fund, 410 Market Street, Suite 360, Chapel Hill, NC 27516; (phone) 919-967-2248; (fax) 919-967-9702; (e-mail) wallen@conservationfund.org

William L. Allen III is Director of Strategic Conservation for the Conservation Fund in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. With the fund since 1994, he is responsible for project design, management, and delivery of customized conservation services for partners that advance the Conservation Fund's dual charter of environmental protection and economic development. Will and his team help corporations, transportation agencies, military services, city- and county-elected officials, regional and watershed organizations, natural resource agencies, and nonprofits to design comprehensive and tailored strategies that balance green and gray infrastructure needs. Will also is a coinstructor for the course Strategic Conservation Planning Using a Green Infrastructure Approach and for the course GIS Tools for Strategic Conservation Planning. He is the coeditor in chief and managing editor of the Journal of Conservation Planning and a cofounding board member of the Society for Conservation GIS. He holds a bachelor of arts in Urban Studies from Stanford University and a master's degree in City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina.