A national benchmark for green infrastructure

绿色基础设施（GI）是全球公认的宜居和可持续发展的重要组成部分。它通常被定义为包括建筑环境中的大多数植物元素，例如树木，灌木，湿地和其他植物。人们普遍认为，GI为健康和福祉提供了许多益处，并且有大量研究证明了这些益处。尽管如此，在“什么是好的地理标志”的多个利益相关者之间仍然存在相当大的不确定性。目前，GI没有总体基准或标准。该创新基金将通过制定地理信息系统的国家基准来解决这一问题。位于布里斯托的西英格兰大学可持续规划与环境中心已经通过知识转移伙伴关系与格洛斯特郡野生动物信托基金一起制定了地理信息系统的地方基准。然而，这一基准侧重于格洛斯特郡和英格兰西部的地方优先事项。该创新基金将扩大本地基准，以确保它可以在英格兰更广泛的地理标志倡议中使用。该基准将允许对地理标志创建过程进行评估，从政策到规划，设计，交付和长期管理，确保在所有阶段都采用当前的良好做法。国家基准的利益相关者或最终用户包括规划师、房地产开发商、生态学家、城市设计师、景观建筑师、工程师、公共卫生专业人员、城市林业人员、社区安全官员和维护承包商。目标如下：-与一系列最终用户合作，将地方基准扩展为国家基准，并确保其适用于目的和用户友好。将此国家基准应用于一系列地理标志示范项目，包括英格兰各地的新商业和住宅发展项目以及改造项目，以证明其有效性。然后，国家基准将正式推出，并在网上免费提供给任何人使用。详细介绍示范项目的用户文档和报告将在基准网站上提供。创新基金的成果最终是提供高质量的地理标志。这将最大限度地发挥地理标志的效益，包括自然保护、健康和福祉、经济增长、气候变化适应和复原力。主要影响包括：允许开发商向规划部门、利益相关者和客户证明他们提供的是高质量的地理标志，这将成为他们开发项目的卖点;使地方当局能够在新开发项目和改造项目中传达他们对地理标志的期望（例如社会住房）及其维护;轻松识别符合其发展地理标志要素要求的规划申请;并展示他们自己的地理标志资产的质量。允许建筑环境顾问向他们的客户展示符合受尊重和认可的基准。使政策制定者能够制定更有效的政策，通过能够在一系列背景下在国家和地方层面具体说明他们对地理标志的期望。这将提高地理标志要求的清晰度，使新社区和现有社区的居民和社区受益，他们将从提供高质量的地理标志和相关福利中受益。这将最终改善他们的生活质量、健康和福祉、环境质量、对气候变化的适应能力和当地经济，使更广泛的社会受益，使其能够更持续地获得高质量的GI和相关的积极成果，包括改善人口健康和福祉、对内投资、生物多样性、气候变化适应和环境正义。

Green infrastructure (GI) is recognised globally as an essential component of liveable and sustainable places. It is generally defined as encompassing most vegetated elements in the built environment, for example trees, shrubs, wetlands and other planting. It is widely acknowledged that GI provides numerous benefits to health and well-being and there is a substantial body of research demonstrating these benefits. Despite this there is still considerable uncertainty amongst the multiple stakeholders of 'what good GI is'. Currently, there is no overarching benchmark or standard for GI. This Innovation Fund will address this by developing a national benchmark for GI.The Centre for Sustainable Planning and Environments at the University of the West of England, Bristol are already developing a local benchmark for GI with the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust through a Knowledge Transfer Partnership. This benchmark is, however, focussed on local priorities in Gloucestershire and the West of England. This Innovation Fund will expand the local benchmark to ensure it can be used across England in a wider range of GI initiatives.This benchmark will allow an assessment of the process of GI creation, from policy, through to planning, design, delivery and long-term management, ensuring that current good practice has been adopted at all stages. The stakeholders, or end-users, for the national benchmark include planners, property developers, ecologists, urban designers, landscape architects, engineers, public health professionals, urban foresters, community safety officers and maintenance contractors.The objectives are as follows:- To work with a range of end-users to expand the local benchmark into a national benchmark and ensure that it is fit-for-purpose and user-friendly.- To apply this national benchmark to a series of GI demonstration projects including new commercial and residential developments and retrofitting initiatives across England to demonstrate its effectiveness.The national benchmark will then be formally launched and made available online for anyone to use for free. User documentation and reports detailing the demonstration projects will be available on a website for the benchmark.The outcome of the Innovation Fund is ultimately the delivery of high quality GI. This will maximise the benefits provided by GI including to nature conservation, health and well-being, economic growth, climate change adaptation and resilience.The key impacts include:Allowing developers to demonstrate to planning authorities, stakeholders and customers that they are providing high quality GI, which will act as a selling point for their developments.Enabling local authorities to communicate their expectations for GI in new developments and retrofitting projects (e.g. of social housing) and its maintenance; easily identify those planning applications that are meeting their requirements for the GI elements of developments; and demonstrate the quality of their own GI assets.Allowing built environment consultants to demonstrate compliance with a respected and recognised benchmark to their clients.Enabling policy makers to develop more effective policies, by being able to specify their expectations for GI at a national and local level in a range of contexts. This will improve clarity on the requirements for GI.Benefit residents and communities in both new and existing neighbourhoods who will gain from the provision of high quality GI and the associated benefits. This will ultimately improve, for example, their quality of life, health and well-being, environmental quality, resilience to climate change and the local economy.Benefit broader society which will have more consistent access to high quality GI and the associated positive outcomes from this including, for example, improved population health and well-being, inward investment, biodiversity, climate change adaptation and environmental justice.