Moving green infrastructure planning from theory to practice in sub-Saharan African cities requires collaborative operationalization

Researchers increasingly consider the systematic integration of green infrastructure (GI) concepts in urban planning as an essential approach to tackle significant current and future challenges. Cities in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) face rapid urbanization, unregulated land-use practices, and poor enforcement of policies. These cities struggle to address the depletion and degradation of existing GI that increases their vulnerability to climatic hazards that threaten ecosystem integrity, and compromise human health. This paper draws on a review of policy documents, semi-structured interviews with metro officials, and cross-sector focus group discussions to explore ways to operationalize GI spatial planning and design on the ground. Through a case study of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa, which takes a public-private co-development approach, we investigate the uptake of GI planning principles, the challenges, and local proposals for GI applications. In conjunction with the literature, we discuss the alternatives at hand. The local policy documents reflected many planning principles anchored in the Global North literature. Together with public and private partners, we co-developed four locally informed GI objectives: environmental protection, safety, joint ownership, and collaborative governance. We co-identified local planning principles and three strategies for operationalizing GI planning, including working with conventional planning, greater flexibility and creativity, and cross-sectoral collaboration. The findings suggest that collaborative strategies that allow greater access and the active, diverse use of GI could provide much-required cross-sectoral care and management. The real challenge is the establishment of such participatory partnerships as mechanisms to consolidate diverse priorities and co-develop technical and financial alternatives.