Grantee Research Project Results
2014 Progress Report: Enabling Citizens and Owners to Invest in Green Infrastructure in Philadelphia
EPA Grant Number: R835554Title: Enabling Citizens and Owners to Invest in Green Infrastructure in Philadelphia
Investigators: Hsu, David H. , Landis, John
Institution: University of Pennsylvania
Current Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology , University of Pennsylvania
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: November 1, 2013 through October 31, 2015 (Extended to October 31, 2017)
Project Period Covered by this Report: September 1, 2013 through August 31,2014
Project Amount: $1,000,000
RFA: Performance and Effectiveness of Green Infrastructure Stormwater Management Approaches in the Urban Context: A Philadelphia Case Study (2012) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Watersheds , Water
Objective:
The overall environmental goals of the City of Philadelphia, as expressed in the Philadelphia Water Department’s Long Term Control Plan (PWD, LTCP) will require many citizens and owners to invest in green infrastructure (GI). This project will develop a comprehensive understanding of their motivation to invest in GI by analyzing existing policies in Philadelphia and other cities, and identifying obstacles to investment in GI. This project also will develop new tools, policies, and processes that could enable actors at all levels, including citizens, neighborhoods, institutions, and PWD, to overcome these obstacles to investment, in order to achieve the LTCP’s ambitious goals. At its conclusion, this project will seek to provide actionable policy analyses and usable tools that the City of Philadelphia could subsequently then choose to test and/or deploy in the future. These tools, policies, and processes for promoting GI will be transferable to other cities that are seeking to improve their stormwater management.
Progress Summary:
This project will complete quantitative and qualitative policy analyses to identify barriers of stormwater green infrastructure (GI) adoption in Philadelphia. Existing policies in Philadelphia and other cities will be qualitatively examined to determine investment obstacles at a variety of stakeholder levels. Quantitative decision models then will be developed to better project economic feasibility of stormwater GI adoption on private lands. Our progress includes the following:
- Using regression models, we have found that the amount of the stormwater billing fee, the industrial property type, and the existence of previous accounts are all key determinants in the decision to apply for grants from the City of Philadelphia.
- Using the theory of planned behavior, we found that the unknown costs and benefits are much more important to the decision-making of non-residential property owners than any other factors such as environmental attitudes or concern for local water pollution.
- Based on extensive interviews about green infrastructure efforts around the country in 33 cities, we found that both the Federal Government and cities have pursued green infrastructure because of its regulatory flexibility and adaptive characteristics, which affects how green infrastructure programs are being implemented.
Future Activities:
We plan to continue our research, and begin to engage the consultants in the building of the web-based tool in the fall and winter of 2016. We also plan to continue our conversations with the cities of New York and Philadelphia this fall and winter.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 5 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
Green infrastructure; stormwater; environmental decision-making; regulatory approaches; sustainabilityProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.