QUANTIFYING ECOSYSTEM SERVICES OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE IN AUSTIN, TEXAS

Abstract

The City of Austin, Texas is evaluating a new landscape ordinance called Functional Green, which is intended to integrate nature in the city and meet the growth demands. With this ordinance, it is anticipated that 10,000 acres of the city’s highest developed land will be transformed with a minimum criterion of green infrastructure. In order to move forward with this ordinance, we need to demonstrate the evidence that green landscape elements are beneficial to the city. This study makes a recommendation for the city and private land developers by scoring different landscape elements on their ecosystem service benefit, creating a cost benefit analysis of implementation with different elements, identifying other social outcomes and economic costs, and recognizing areas of the city that will benefit the most from these ecosystem services.