Green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) manages stormwater runoff by using natural processes. Traditional “gray” infrastructure—gutters, sewers, and tunnels—moves water away from buildings but can contribute to flooding, pollution, and urban heat. In contrast, nature-based solutions like GSI use plants, soils, and permeable surfaces to manage and store stormwater where it falls naturally. GSI has the potential not only to mitigate flooding and pollution but also to increase green spaces, boost climate resilience, and create green jobs.
As storms become more intense and unpredictable, our infrastructure must adapt. Parks, which are among the largest green spaces in cities, have great potential for GSI. In addition to promoting public recreation and social cohesion, parks can mitigate extreme heat, and manage flooding and stormwater runoff. By working with nature, GSI in parks helps reduce flooding and its financial impacts while enhancing biodiversity and protecting ecosystems. It can improve public health outcomes by filtering air and water pollution, reducing urban heat, and creating new green spaces, all of which can also lower healthcare costs related to respiratory and heat-related illnesses.
However, parks are often underused for GSI because of a lack of shared vision and priorities among public agency leaders. More structural and technical implementation challenges include separate funding sources for parks and water projects, silos between parks and water agency planning and operations, policies and regulations that are unsupportive of interagency collaboration, skepticism about nature-based solutions, limited green infrastructure maintenance skills, and the complexity of engaging communities, especially those that are historically disadvantaged, in infrastructure projects. By fostering better collaboration between parks and water agencies on funding, community engagement, planning, capital projects, and maintenance, cities can fully tap into parks’ potential for GSI and create a win-win for urban resilience, as well as operational efficiency and fiscal savings.
Historically, discriminatory policies have limited park and housing access for racial and ethnic minorities, immigrant groups, and low-income families, leaving these communities with less green space and greater exposure to flooding, extreme heat, and pollution. GSI projects in existing or new parks in these communities can address environmental justice needs, create jobs, and improve public health disparities. Additionally, GSI in parks can raise nearby property values by reducing the threat of flooding and creating new community amenities, which generates wealth-building opportunities for landowners and boosts local tax revenues. However, it is crucial to pair these infrastructure improvements with community stabilization and economic development strategies to prevent displacement as property values rise, as well as secure long-term funding for maintaining this critical infrastructure.
Utilizing urban parks and green spaces for the management of stormwater using nature-based (or green) infrastructure has many public benefits, including: