Campaign to Green Cities

Article Type: News From: Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, Volume 21, Issue 2

CABE’s new Grey to Green campaign argues that a switch is needed in public spending from grey infrastructure projects, like road building and heavy engineering projects, to green schemes, like street trees, parks, green roofs and waterways. Figures produced by PricewaterhouseCoopers show how a shift in spending from grey to green of just 0.5 per cent could increase investment in urban green space by 141 per cent. The campaign report highlights the need for more people, with the right skills, to manage the living landscape of our towns and cities. It argues that local government needs better skills to design and manage green infrastructure (GI).

Each local authority needs a cabinet member with responsibility for leading on green infrastructure in their area, and a landscape architect to coordinate the policy across departments. CABE is proposing that each local authority appoint a City Gardener, in a nod to the original City Architects. Councillors should be encouraged to organise regular “green surgeries”, an alternative to gardeners’ question times for their wards. At a national level, CABE would welcome the establishment of a green infrastructure taskforce. Just as the urban taskforce championed an urban renaissance for our towns and cities, a panel of national experts should be convened to shape environmental policy and delivery and to champion GI. Furthermore, at the moment GI is hard to use because it is not mapped. There is no record of urban and suburban green spaces in England – where they are, who owns them or what condition they are in. CABE, with support from 15 organisations across the sector, wants central government to coordinate a single, shared national information resource or ‘atlas’ so that green infrastructure can be planned and managed strategically. Details can be seen at: www.cabe.org.uk/news/switch-from-grey-to-green