Government advisers call for funding to be redirected to green infrastructure

This is the view of Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) and Natural England – both advisers to the Government on urban design and the natural environment respectively.

They argue there is an urgent need to redesign our towns and cities in response to the imperative of climate change, but more investment in green assets such as parks, trees and open spaces have other benefits too – not only making the country’s urban areas better places to live in, but helping to combat the effects of recession too.

They say that investment in green roofs, for example, would not only protect cities from flooding by absorbing heavy rain, cool the air in summer, improve air quality and support biodiversity, but would also create many new jobs.

Just 10 per cent of the £10 billion national road building budget would be enough to pay for 40 new parks, half a million new street trees, one and a half million square metres of green roofs, and 1,000 miles of safe greenways for cyclists and pedestrians, they claim.

Previous research from Manchester University’s Centre for Urban Regional Ecology has also suggested that relatively modest increases in the green infrastructure of our cities could make a significant contribution to combatting the effects of climate change. An increase of 10 per cent in urban green cover would be enough to keep temperatures close to current levels, its research suggests.

The university is providing academic leadership in GRaBS – a £2.5 million project across the European Union aimed at helping selected cities and regions, among them London and Southampton, adapt to the effects of climate change, such as heatwaves, flooding and subsidence.

Calling on the Government to act on this issue and make green assets more central to strategic thinking about urban planning, Richard Simmons, CABE chief executive said: “Greening towns and cities needs to be part of the Green New Deal, as much as technology.”

He believes that design is the "signal of intent" – and the intention of urban design should be about reducing, absorbing and capturing more carbon dioxide, which can only be done if the balance between spending on grey and green infrastructure is redressed.

These views and others are being debated this week (March 24 and 25) at a two day conference in London organised by CABE and Natural England. The event, which is bringing together senior practitioners from regional and local government, health professionals and all those concerned with planning and urban design, is looking at the role of green infrastructure in creating sustainable cities.