A systematic review of green infrastructure and ecosystem-based technologies for climate resilience : development trends, research outlook and future projections

Abstract

The first and current global stocktake launched by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change unveils lags and regional differences in climate resilience (CR) efforts and stresses the need to improve the effective adoption of ecosystem-based climate adaptation systems. The current study provides a critical analysis of literature on the application of green infrastructure (GI) and ecosystem-based technologies for CR. The review revealed regional disparities in implementation, technological applications, and scales of integration. Analysis conducted indicated that the United States, the United Kingdom and China are key pioneers in implementation; while developing nations, tropical and Mediterranean regions need more research and execution. Emergent findings showed that research on GI-CR achieved exponential growth in 2016, after the Paris Agreement. Further, built environment-scale CR considerations have accomplished significant developments. At the built environment-scale, the review systematically developed a five-stage implementation framework for GI-CR from grey infrastructure to broader systems, such as nature-based solutions and green cities. At the building-scale, the review revealed a weak linkage between CR and sustainability studies. The analysis therefore delineates the need to consider integrated CR systems that effectively incorporate mitigation and adaptation guidelines. Holistically, key directions provided include willingness to pay, the need for integrated sustainability and resilience systems, digital technologies application for indicator selection and effective monitoring. This study provides clear future research directions by highlighting existing knowledge gaps, scope considerations, geographic factors, and key areas for exploration within the realm of GI-CR.