Green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) systems are being widely implemented in urban areas to address stormwater issues and provide other ecosystem benefits. There have been many advances in different aspects of GSI over the recent past; however, the interdependencies between GSI performance and soil-water-plant-climate processes in different geographic regions and different social and environmental problems of concern in urban communities warrant the identification of specific research needs in different urban areas. Due to limited budget and resources, prioritization is also required to select the most important research needs using an array of customized, multi-disciplinary, multi-stakeholder criteria. Given many technical, social, environmental, and economic considerations as well as multiple stakeholders that need to be considered, a multi-criterion, multi-stakeholder decision analysis is needed to support the prioritization.

The overall goal of this study was to develop a simple, yet structured and reproducible, multi-criteria group decision-making tool to create a road map for GSI research in different cities. The proposed method was applied to two real case studies, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Miami, Florida. A long- and a short-list of research needs were developed and prioritized in each city to inform stormwater management and policy for community leaders, private and public professionals, researchers, and other stakeholders. The different storm sewer systems, hydrological and hydrogeological conditions, environmental problems, and climate change effects in Philadelphia and Miami indicated the applicability of the proposed tool to other urban and coastal areas after revising the decision criteria based upon each city’s needs and concerns.

Multi-Criterion, Multi-Stakeholder Decision Analysis for Identifying and Prioritizing Green Infrastructure Research Needs: Case Studies in Philadelphia and Miami

Created in 1999, the Environmental & Water Resources Institute (EWRI) is the recognized leader within ASCE for the integration of technical expertise and public policy in the planning, design, construction, and operation of environmentally sound and sustainable infrastructure impacting air, land and water resources.