Accessible, and culturally responsive: Why we need to examine diverse plant uses and values in green infrastructure

Abstract

As green infrastructure (GI) proliferates as an adaptation strategy to living with increasing temperatures in urban areas, these initiatives may impact how people differentially experience the local climate and health benefits of urban greening. Scholars have studied the uneven distribution of urban greenery, but less attention has been paid to diverse plant uses and values by different sectors of the population and how those align (or not) with institutional plant preferences enshrined in GI policies. To address this gap, this article offers an in-depth case study of publicly-funded residential raingardens in a semi-arid city of the U.S. Southwest by drawing on an environmental justice framework. Through a mixed-methods approach we identify key criteria for residential plant selection among two groups from different economic and cultural backgrounds, and examine the desired benefits driving those preferences. More saliently, we found that plant preferences among low-income Hispanic residents tended to be at odds with institutional expectations of appropriate vegetation for GI installations in the context of increased heat and reduced water resources. Instead, they favored often-thirsty fruit bearing plants that provide cultural ecosystem services but are consistently excluded from the recommended plant lists used by program managers and expert practitioners. As practitioners and policy-makers seek to develop GI in historically underserved neighborhoods to reduce vulnerabilities to extreme heat, it is paramount to understand what people care to plant, what desired benefits they seek from those plants, and how they relate to plants in GI installations. Thus, this article argues that systematic attention to diversity in people-plant interactions is critical for implementing GI programs that are not only spatially, administratively, and financially accessible to underserved communities, but also culturally responsive to community identified needs. Moreover, by systematically documenting how different groups of people interact, use, and value vegetation this research adds to the movement towards integrating a biocultural approach to urban greening and to GI planning and implementation more specifically.