Green Infrastructure and Social Welfare. Lessons for Sustainable Urban Development in the Metropolitan Zone of Leon, Mexico

Abstract

Making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable is a goal of sustainable development (Sustainable Development Goal 11, SDG 11). To achieve sustainable cities, urban planning of natural spaces must contribute to deal with the socioenvironmental challenges brought by urbanization. However, planning strategies for green infrastructure are frequently skewed toward ecological aspects. Such a unidimensional perspective in the development of planning tools may have a poor contribution to social welfare. Therefore, there is a need for integrating the social aspects to achieve effective planning, and to recognize the social contributions of green infrastructure. The objective of this study is to diagnose the functions and dysfunctions of green infrastructure, as well as its contributions to the social welfare in the Metropolitan Zone of Leon, Mexico. The area of study is characterized by an accelerated urban growth in one of the most dynamic industrial regions in the country. The methodology includes an assessment of green infrastructure components of its distribution. An evaluation of welfare-related social context was also conducted. Main results showed that (i) green infrastructure can be a strategic approach for the land sustainability, (ii) the metropolitan area of Leon showed the existence of key green infrastructure components and reveled a fragmented network of natural spaces and (iii) people perceived social and environmental functions and dysfunctions from green infrastructure components. This study has concluded that an effective planning approach to green infrastructure should integrate functions and dysfunctions related to social context. This approach may contribute to create more sustainable cities with benefits for all people.

Appendix

See Table 7.

Table 7 Conceptual perception on green infrastructure