Urban green infrastructure opportunities : spatial suitability analysis and municipal guidelines in Beirut -

Abstract

Research on green infrastructure (GI) indicates that GI can provide multiple ecosystem services and benefits due to its nature based principles, multi-functionality, and no-regrets net benefit. These benefits are not evident in urban centers and densely built neighborhoods where natural open space is not abundant and alternative spaces are not readily available. GI requires space to develop and flourish to provide these benefits. Within the context of Beirut, where real estate and lack of planning for the public good drives land development and the urban landscape, the absence of planned and explicit open space and GI is evident. This research aims to identify opportunities of space where suitable GI typologies can be incorporated at the neighborhood scale to develop recommendations and guidelines at the municipal scale to mainstream GI as a municipal initiative. Drawing on national and international data on urban greening, the research employs a spatial suitability and policy analysis to guide the methodology. To achieve the objective, an inventory of current conditions was conducted using extensive field surveys, GIS software, and aerial photographs, to determine the base line condition. After identifying suitable GI types for the neighborhood of Hamra (i.e. green roofs, street trees, green walls, planters and rain gardens) that matched needed ecosystems services, an assessment tool was developed to identify potential space available and suitability of locations for each GI type. Different metrics for each GI typology (i.e. number of street trees, area of roofs, and linear length of planters) were homogenized into a single metric with measures of high, medium and low opportunity. This metric provided the basis to combine the differing layers into a single map providing a measure of the extent of GI type applicability based on morphological conditions and location. In addition to the review of the regulatory context and municipal operations, the data from this research was used to develop a strategic vision and