March 15, 2014
Landscape Ontario and Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC) have announced a project to help communities understand the costs and benefits of investing in living green infrastructure. This project involves the development of a tool that features detailed descriptions of multiple green infrastructure technologies and the average costs and benefits, and then applying this analysis to areas in different communities that are redesigned in a one-day planning session. Design days will be held in four cities with carefully selected community stakeholders. These full-day events will draw upon the experience and expertise of selected attendees to re-envision degraded areas within the community with living green infrastructure such as urban forests, parks, green roofs and green walls. The goal of the sessions is to provide communities with a vision of what is possible, and the costs and benefits associated with moving forward on implementing that vision.  

“These sessions are poised to further animate the benefits of green infrastructure and its many roles in helping us achieve healthy and resilient communities,” said Tony DiGiovanni, Executive Director of Landscape Ontario.
Founder and president of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities and co-founder of Green Infrastructure Ontario Coalition Steven Peck, said, “There is a case to be made for significantly increasing the amount of public investment in the design, installation and maintenance of living green infrastructure in our urban and suburban communities. In order to achieve this, we need the tools to re-envision what is possible, and make the business case that this investment should be made.”

In addition to its partnership with Landscape Ontario, Green Roofs for Healthy Cities is joined on the project with Green Infrastructure Ontario and the Ontario Parks Association. This vast pool of resources allows for an unprecedented collaboration between top thinkers in a number of key green infrastructure practices.