Next Generation Urban Greening

Next Generation Urban Greening is a broad partnership to help cities achieve more benefits through green infrastructure. In collaboration with partners, SFEI is developing new information and tools that municipalities, regulators, NGOs, and other stakeholders need to simultaneously improve water quality (including capture of microplastics), flood risk reduction, habitat provision, and heat resilience. These tools are demonstrated through a set of implementation projects in southeast San Francisco that restore over 2,000 feet of urban stream and riparian habitat, capture one million gallons of stormwater annually, filter contaminants from a one-acre, high-use parking lot, increase resilience to urban heat, create 2,000 square feet of new freshwater wetland, and increase access to nature throughout an underserved area. In addition to localized implementation impacts, the project tools are being developed in conjunction with cities as part of the next Municipal Regional Stormwater NPDES Permit (MRP 3.0), to guide the development and implementation of green infrastructure plans throughout the Bay Area. This shared learning process will support rapid adoption by regional stakeholders, leading to improved environmental outcomes in numerous cities over the coming decade. 

Project update: Benefit quantification

For more information about this project, please contact [email protected]