Upscaling Natural and Social Capitals forDecentralized Urban Stormwater Management

Decentralized municipal stormwater management, whereby best management practices are dispersed throughout a watershed, are gaining popularity but face unique constraints related to land access and citizen engagement. Decentralized installations require perpetual access to public and private land, a constraint that may be solved creatively in many urban settings through the repurposing of vacant land and public parks. Vacant land has the potential to provide ecosystem services such as stormwater runoff detention. Using green infrastructure techniques, vacant lots may be transformed into lot-scale rain gardens or aggregated into larger-scale, landscape features that incorporate constructed wetlands and retention ponds. To maximize the provision of green infrastructure co-benefits (e.g., urban renewal, public health improvement) and gain perpetual access, stormwater managers should account for social and other human capitals in their management plans. In this presentation, we will highlight the role of human, social, and cultural capitals in the USEPA’s groundbreaking study in the Shepherd Creek Catchment (Cincinnati OH USA) and how its outcomes will inform future plans to upscale green infrastructure projects in order to capture more stormwater and engage more private citizens through the use of bridging organizations and partnerships with municipal governments.