Scalable Green Infrastructure: The Case of Domestic Private Gardens in Vuores, Finland

The planning, implementation, and everyday use of the built environment interweave the green and grey components of urban fabric tightly together. Runoff from grey and impermeable surfaces causes stormwater that is managed in permeable surfaces that simultaneously act as habitats for vegetation. Green infrastructure (GI) is one of the concepts that is used to perceive, manage, and guide the components of urban green spaces. Furthermore, GI pays special attention to stormwater management and urban vegetation at several scales at the same time. This study concentrated on scalable GI in domestic private gardens. A set of garden designs in Vuores, Finland were analyzed and developed by Research by Design. The aim was to study how garden scale choices and designs can enhance GI at the block and neighbourhood scales to rethink design practices to better integrate water and vegetation throughout the scales. As a result, we propose a checklist for designers and urban planners that ensures vegetation-integrated stormwater management to enhance habitat diversity in block scale and possibility to use blocks of private plots for ecological networks. The prerequisite for garden designers is to be capable to balance between water, vegetation, and soil, and their processes and flows in detail the scale.Peer reviewe