Green infrastructure in comprehensive plans in coastal Texas
Sierra Woodruff, Tho Tran, Jessica Lee, Chandler Wilkins, Galen Newman, Forster Ndubisi, Shannon Van Zandt
Abstract
By guiding where, how, and when development occurs, comprehensive plans are an important vehicle to implement green infrastructure. To examine how green infrastructure is incorporated into local comprehensive plans, we evaluate 38 city and county plans in coastal Texas. Like many coastal regions, coastal Texas is experiencing rapid population growth, environmental degradation, and growing natural hazard threats. We found that local comprehensive plans in this region do not effectively incorporate green infrastructure. Few plans include goals related to green infrastructure or discuss the benefits of green infrastructure. The plans lack information critical for planning a green infrastructure network and rely on a narrow set of policies. Based on the prevalence of strategies to protect open space, green infrastructure is valued by communities even if they do not use the term “green infrastructure.” Ultimately, the results suggest that there is a critical need to build planning capacity to advance green infrastructure implementation.