Sustainability Assessment of Urban Green Infrastructure: Development of an ESG+ Integrated Rating Framework

Cities and their needs are growing rapidly. In this case, infrastructure systems must also keep up with this growth rate. At the same time, when the decreasing green areas along with the construction sector are considered, the importance of green infrastructure systems increases. Increasing urban areas and their transformation to green infrastructure projects as fundamental solutions for sustainable development, climate resilience and improved quality of life. Although existing sustainability assessment tools are often failing multi-dimensional effects and the full complexity, especially in urban areas, green infrastructure projects are crucial solutions for sustainable development, climate resilience, and developed urban quality of life. This thesis addresses this gap by proposing a comprehensive and integrated assessment framework especially designed for green infrastructure called “Green Infrastructure Sustainability Performance Assessment Model’’ (GISPAM). By analyzing well known international sustainability systems, GISPAM contains environmental, social, economic and governance (ESG+) dimensions with customized evaluation model. Application selected case studies shows that the GISPAM is more refined, comparative assessment of green infrastructure performance. These findings suggest that the framework can inform future practice and policy. Also, GISPAM provides practitioners with a strong tool for urban sustainability.