Author(s)

JESSICA LAMOND, MARK EVERARD, GLYN EVERETT

Abstract

Greening small urban street spaces such as alleys and laneways is increasingly popular with city authorities. Motivation for starting these projects varies and this may hold implications in terms of the responsible function and department overseeing planning and implementation. Knock-on effects of such decisions may also include the level and breadth of stakeholder engagement and consultation in the process, the visions created and the eventual benefits realised. This research explored the potential to widen funding sources for a laneways project in Melbourne, Australia, including crowd funding. An ecosystem services framework was used to extensively consider potential benefits from a project before and during the design phase. The findings indicate that such an approach can be very useful in order to: widen participation; tailor design to optimise benefits; bring funding from special interest groups; and increase visibility and potential for improved feedback benefits such as green tourism and property values.

Keywords

laneways, Blue-Green Infrastructure, Green Infrastructure, ecosystems services