Evaluating the Potential Returns to Investing in Green Urban Development in Durban
Urbanisation is taking place at an unprecedented rate throughout the world, often outpacing plans and the capacity of city managers. As a result, natural open space areas in cities are being degraded and diminished, and problems such as flooding, a...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/285331498124827922/Part-II-evaluating-the-potential-returns-to-investing-in-green-urban-development-in-Durban http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27322 |
| Summary: | Urbanisation is taking place at an
unprecedented rate throughout the world, often outpacing
plans and the capacity of city managers. As a result,
natural open space areas in cities are being degraded and
diminished, and problems such as flooding, air and water
pollution are getting worse. The environmental problems
associated with increased hardened surfaces and the loss of
natural areas and ecosystem services are particularly acute
in developing country cities, where a lack of regulation and
resources has led to poor planning, the expansion of
informal settlements in high risk, marginal areas, and the
inability to adequately manage the quantity and quality of
surface water flows.Durban, located within the eThekwini
Municipality on the east coast of South Africa, is rich in
biodiversity, but faces a number of environmental and
developmental challenges. Green urban development is an
approach that aims to minimize the impacts of urbanization
on the environment, and tackles the core problems of
pollution and waste, the consumption of natural resources,
the loss of urban open space and the degradation and loss of
biodiversity, as well as mitigation of the urban
contribution to climate change. The aim of this study was to
explore, using a case study and scenario-based approach, the
potential costs and benefits of undertaking a green urban
development approach to address some of the main
environmental issues described above, and to explore the
potential tradeoffs between different types of
interventions, with an emphasis on assessing the desirable
balance between engineered interventions and the
conservation of natural open space areas. The study focuses
on three elements of green urban development, all of which
impact on ecosystems and biodiversity: sewage and solid
waste management, active storm water management and the
conservation of natural systems and riparian corridors. |
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