Institutional Barriers and Enablers for Green Infrastructure Implementation: A Case-Study of the City of Brampton, Ontario, using the Institutional Analysis and Development framework.

Abstract

Green infrastructure (GI) has increasingly being deliberated in the planning discourse for its multifunctionality and applicability to address a number of urban issues. However, despite the benefits, the mainstream use of GI principles and concepts in urban planning is limited. For some time now, city planners have found it challenging to institutionalizing GI approaches in policy and practise. Research has indicated a number of systemic barriers to operationalizing the concept including political will, funding opportunities, and existing city planning practises. However, despite these challenges, there are examples emerging in cities where municipal governments are foraying into implementing GI and the concept is finding a place in Official plans and policy documents. Using the City of Brampton as a case study, this thesis attempts to learn from the early experiences of policy and planning practises to identify enablers and challenges in GI implementation. Using a qualitative case study research approach, the thesis investigates GI implementation through Ostrom’s Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework. Semi-structured interviews with 16 experts and document analysis of plans, and policy documents are used to focus on the operational level action arena. The case study shows a polycentric model supported through nested rules from all levels of governments. Though the various levels of government outline different outcomes from GI implementation, in this case study of Brampton, GI implementation centres around naturalisation policies and use of new GI technologies in water resource management. The case study observed a watershed scale of planning for GI and emphasises the changing role of conservation authorities as a technical unit that provides expertise and support for GI implementation The study evaluates the observed polycentric model facilitated by a collaborative co-management approach for required time, transaction costs and effectiveness. The observed collaborative approach is reliant on prescriptive policies, negotiations, experimental projects, and creation of awareness and capacities around new GI technologies. The study recommends a master planning approach to facilitate decentralised community-led approaches and supporting them through financial incentives and technical assistance to upscale new GI technologies.