Grantee Research Project Results

2015 Progress Report: Enabling Citizens and Owners to Invest in Green Infrastructure in Philadelphia

EPA Grant Number: R835554
Title: 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: November 1, 2014 through October 31,2015
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:

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 will then be developed to better project economic feasibility of stormwater GI adoption on private lands.

Progress Summary:

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 have a number of additional manuscript ideas that may spin-off from our existing work above. We also plan to continue our conversations with the cities of New York and Philadelphia this fall and winter. I expect that our academic work will be largely completed by the summer of 2017.

Journal Articles:

No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 5 publications for this project

Supplemental Keywords:

Green infrastructure, stormwater, environmental decision-making, regulatory approaches

Progress and Final Reports:

Original Abstract

The 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.