Green Infrastructure - Technologies and Approaches
Development Patterns with Better Environmental Performance
Parking Spaces / Community Places:
Finding the Balance through Smart Growth Solutions (PDF) (70 pp,
3.43MB) - Describes approaches that can help communities explore new, flexible parking policies that can encourage growth and balance parking needs with their other goals. The report also demonstrates the significance of parking decisions in development patterns and presents case studies of places that are successfully using these strategies.
Protecting
Water Resources with Higher-Density Development (PDF) (46 pp,
1.35MB) - Helps communities better understand the impacts of higher and lower density
development on water resources. The findings indicate that low-density development may not always
be the preferred strategy for protecting water resources.
Using Smart Growth
Techniques as Stormwater Best Management Practices (PDF) (112 pp,
1.6MB) - Reviews nine common smart growth techniques and examines how they can be
used to prevent or manage stormwater runoff.
Using Rainwater to Grow Livable Communities  - Provides tools and resources for integrating stormwater BMPs into development projects as well as case studies that examine BMP integration in several cities across the United States.
Menu of BMPs Fact Sheet: Redevelopment
Downspout Disconnection
Toronto
Homeowners' Guide to Rainfall: Downspout Disconnection
D.C. Greenworks: Downspout
Disconnection
Green Parking
Green Parking Lot Case
Study (PDF) (9 pp, 34K) - Heifer International, a non-profit
sustainable community development organization, published this case study on the environmental
impacts associated with parking lots and identifies techniques that can be used to mitigate them.
The report includes information on the environmental benefits and costs of green parking, and also
explores ideas for developing policies that encourage the use of green parking lot techniques.
Urban Design Tools,
Bioretention
Menu of BMPs Fact Sheet: Green Parking
Green Roofs
Green Roofs as Urban Ecosystems: Ecological Structures, Functions, and Services - Provides a general overview of green roof design and function
while also discussing the multiple benefits these roof systems can provide.
Green Roofs for Healthy Cities - Collects and publishes technical information on green roof
products and services.
Seattle Green Roof Evaluation Project: Final Report (PDF) (6 pp, 1.7MB) -
Magnusson Klemencic Associates (MKA), a structural engineering firm, led a $125,000 two-year
vegetated roof evaluation project in Seattle and found that a green roof has the potential to lower
stormwater runoff from 65-94%.
Stormwater
Monitoring on Two Ecoroofs in Portland, Oregon, USA - In this report, the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services
initiated a monitoring project of an apartment building vegetated with two different ecoroofs. After over
two years of water quality monitoring and over a year of flow monitoring, some impressive
performance has been measured. Precipitation retention has been calculated at 69% for the 4-5 inch
ecoroof substrate section and nearly all of the rainfall is absorbed during dry period storm
events.
Menu of BMPs Fact Sheet: Green Roofs
Green Streets & Highways
City of Portland, Green Street
Program
Seattle Public Utilities, Street Edge Alternatives (SEA
Streets) Project
Green Highways Partnership
The Chicago Green Alley Handbook (PDF) (24 pp, 3.72MB)
Menu of BMPs Fact Sheet: Street Design and Patterns
Land Protection
Menu of BMPs Fact Sheet: Protection of Natural Features
Menu of BMPs Fact Sheet: Conservation Easements
Riparian Buffers
Virginia Cooperative
Extensions, Understanding the Science Behind Riparian Forest Buffers: Planning, Establishment,
and Maintenance
Menu of BMPs Fact Sheet: Riparian/Forested Buffers
Permeable Pavements
Hydrologic and Water Quality Comparison of Four Types of Permeable Pavement and Standard Asphalt in Eastern North Carolina (PDF) (91 pp, 1.3MB) -
This report, published by North Carolina State University and the Interlocking Concrete Pavement
Institute, provides monitoring data from a parking lot with four different types of permeable pavements
as well as traditional asphalt. The parking lot was monitored from July 2006 - July 2007 to identify
hydrologic and water quality characteristics associated with different types of porous and impervious
pavements.
Long-Term
Stormwater Quantity and Quality Performance of Permeable Pavements Systems (PDF) (15 pp, 293K) -
This University of Washington study examined the long-term effectiveness of permeable pavement as
an alternative to traditional impervious asphalt pavement in a perking area. Four commercially
available permeable pavement systems were evaluated after six years of daily parking usage for
structural durability, ability to infiltrate precipitation, and impacts on water quality via infiltration.
Menu of BMPs Fact Sheet: Porous Pavement
Planter Boxes
City of Portland,
Planter Boxes
Pocket Wetlands
Menu of BMPs Fact Sheet: Stormwater Wetlands
Rain Gardens
Burnsville Stormwater Retrofit
Study - To limit large volumes of stormwater runoff, the City of
Burnsville, Minnesota installed an experimental raingarden system to infiltrate street runoff. To better
document the performance capacity of the raingardens, this project involved the completion of a
"paired watershed" study, in which two very similar residential areas are monitored - one control
watershed with a traditional curb and gutter system, and one test watershed with 17 new raingardens
within a 25-lot, 5.3-acre neighborhood. Both the control and treatment watersheds were monitored
before and after raingarden construction to facilitate the statistical evaluation of the paired watershed
data.
Menu of BMPs Fact Sheet: Bioretention (Rain Gardens)
Rain Harvesting
Water Harvesting at NC State
University
Menu of BMPs Fact Sheet: On-Lot Treatment
Trees & Urban Forestry
Casey Trees -
A Washington-based organization dedicated to restoring,
enhancing and protecting the tree canopy of the nation's capitol.
Center for Watershed Protection's Urban Forestry
Series - In cooperation with the USDA Forest Service, Northeastern
Area State and Private Forestry, has produced a three-part manual series on using trees to protect
and restore urban watersheds.
San Francisco Bay Area State of the Urban Forest Final Report (PDF) (92 pp, 2.5MB) - The USDA
Forest Service's Center for Urban Forest Research recently released their study of the urban tree
canopy of the San Francisco Bay area. The report had three goals: (1) to describe the historic
changes to the region's urban canopy cover and amount of impervious surface, (2) to quantify the
value of ecosystem services the current forest provides, and (3) to estimate future benefits based on
possible expansion of the urban forest. It's full of interesting information for Bay area residents and
anyone who would like to know more about the benefits of trees.
The Sustainable Urban Forests Coalition - A national coalition to advance a unified urban forest agenda
for our nation's communities. The Coalition views urban forests as the aggregate of all vegetation and
green spaces within communities that provide benefits vital to enriching overall quality of life.
TreePeople - A nonprofit organization that promotes various urban forestry
initiatives through education, planting projects, policy development and research.
Menu of BMPs Fact Sheet: Reforestation Programs
Vegetated Swales
Menu of BMPs Fact Sheet: Vegetated Filter Strips
Planning and Design Manual
Low Impact Development: Technical Guidance Manual for Puget Sound -
This guidance manual, developed by the Puget Sound Action Team and Washington State
University, is designed to provide stormwater managers and site designers with a common
understanding of low impact development/green infrastructure goals and objectives. It includes
technical specifications for individual practices as well as research data related to those
practices.
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