Provision of Green Infrastructure as an Urban Resilience Strategy in Masvingo City, Zimbabwe
Green infrastructure (GI) has emerged as a pivotal element of modern urban planning, emphasizing the integration of natural systems into urban environments to enhance resilience, sustainability, and overall quality of life. This approach includes incorporating elements such as parks, greenways, wetlands, and stormwater management systems into urban landscapes. Cities worldwide, particularly in Europe and the United States, have made significant strides in adopting GI in their urban planning practices. Cities like Copenhagen, Berlin, Ljubljana, and Malmö serve as examples of successful GI planning, implementing comprehensive strategies for stormwater management, ecological connectivity, and sustainable urban development.
In contrast, cities in other parts of the world, such as Africa, face significant challenges in adopting green infrastructure. For instance, in South Africa, only a few cities like the Gauteng City-Region and Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality have begun incorporating green infrastructure into planning practices. Urban green spaces in Africa are depleting rapidly due to unsustainable land use practices, with urban expansion encroaching upon sensitive ecosystems such as forests, coastal zones, and mega-deltas. This expansion has resulted in negative environmental impacts such as deforestation, habitat loss, and soil erosion.
In Zimbabwe, the focus on urban green spaces has largely been on wetlands, with studies indicating their degradation and loss due to housing development and urban agriculture. The country's urban planning practice faces numerous challenges, including uncoordinated planning approaches, ineffective policies and legislative frameworks, weak institutional settings, and financial constraints. However, there is a lack of comprehensive knowledge regarding Zimbabwe's urban planning capacity to deliver urban green spaces that adhere to GI principles.
A study assessing green infrastructure provision in Masvingo City, the provincial capital of Masvingo Province in southeastern Zimbabwe, aimed to evaluate the adherence of urban planning practices to GI planning principles. Masvingo City was chosen for the study due to its ongoing review of the existing 1993 Master Plan and the initiation of a new long-term master plan to guide future developments. This new plan is expected to address contemporary challenges such as climate change through climate-conscious land use strategies, with green infrastructure being one of the most effective and low-cost options.
The study employed a mixed-methods approach, utilizing both quantitative and qualitative methods. It focused on assessing green infrastructure provision at multiple planning scales: macro, meso, and micro. At the macro scale, the 2012 Masvingo City Master Plan was analyzed for its consideration of green infrastructure. The master plan reserved areas for a game park, buffer zones around major infrastructure, river buffer zones, sports fields, and open space patches in the city. These green spaces constituted approximately 44% of the total land within the official boundary of Masvingo City.
At the meso scale, existing maps and field visits were used to create a map of existing green and grey infrastructure in Masvingo City. The study found that green spaces, including sports fields and buffer zones along major roads and rivers, were present in residential areas. However, the Central Business District (CBD) of Masvingo City exhibited limited green spaces, with only a recreational park and green medians along certain streets.
At the micro scale, site visits revealed significant provision of green infrastructure in individual residential, institutional, commercial, and industrial properties. This included tree canopies, gardens, and landscaping. However, there was little evidence of deliberate integration of green and grey infrastructure in layout plans.
The study also assessed the level of integration of green and grey infrastructure in Masvingo City, finding significant integration through the provision of road buffers on major roads, green circles in roundabouts, and boulevards with green medians. The city had open spaces reserved for utilities such as power lines and railway lines, which contribute to the integration of green and grey infrastructure.
Additionally, the study evaluated the physical connectivity of green spaces in Masvingo City. Although there were corridors and buffer zones connecting green patches, the physical connectivity was limited by the uneven spatial distribution of patches, with concentrations in the northern and eastern parts of the city.
In conclusion, while Masvingo City demonstrates some level of adherence to green infrastructure planning principles at various scales, there is room for improvement, particularly in the integration of green and grey infrastructure and the physical connectivity of green spaces. These findings underscore the importance of comprehensive urban planning that prioritizes green infrastructure to enhance the resilience and sustainability of urban environments.
