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Energy Environment and Economy

Volume 3 Number 1 2025

Article Contents

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RESEARCH ARTICLE   (Open Access)
Contents Vol 3 (1)

Practitioner Perceptions of Green Infrastructure for Urban Stormwater Management and Flood Mitigation in the United States: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Awareness, Effectiveness, Adoption, and Barriers

Nipa Akter1*, Muhammad Yousuf Almunshi1

+ Author Affiliations

Energy Environment and Economy 3 (1) 1-8 https://doi.org/10.25163/energy.3110767

Submitted: 29 July 2025 Revised: 07 October 2025  Published: 14 October 2025 

Abstract

Background: Urban flooding in the United States is becoming harder to manage as impervious surfaces expand and precipitation patterns shift. Green infrastructure (GI) — green roofs, rain gardens, bioswales, permeable pavements, urban trees, and retention ponds — has emerged as a promising complement to conventional drainage, though adoption has been uneven across urban contexts. What remains less well understood is how practitioners themselves perceive these systems and what they see as the obstacles to broader implementation.

Methods: A cross-sectional, quantitative survey was conducted with 215 professionals working across U.S. metropolitan, coastal, suburban, inland, and small-city settings. Respondents included engineers, academics, government officials, and allied professionals, recruited through stratified purposive sampling. A pre-tested structured questionnaire captured awareness, perceived effectiveness, adoption levels, environmental and social benefits, and implementation barriers. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation, with significance set at p < 0.001.

Results: Awareness was high across all six GI system types, peaking at 75.3% for urban trees. Retention ponds (64.5%) and permeable pavements (61.7%) drew the strongest very-effective ratings. Adoption varied substantially by urban context — 72.6% in major metropolitan regions versus 38.7% in small cities. All six hypothesized associations reached significance, with awareness positively linked to adoption (r = 0.62) and barriers negatively linked (r = −0.55).

Conclusion: Practitioners largely understand and endorse GI, but persistent institutional and financial barriers — particularly outside large coastal and metropolitan areas — continue to slow implementation. Closing this gap will likely require coordinated investments in funding, technical capacity, and policy clarity rather than awareness alone.

Keywords: Green infrastructure, Urban stormwater management, Flood mitigation, Climate adaptation, Practitioner perceptions

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