Performance assessment indicators for green infrastructures: a comparison between international guidelines

The concept of green infrastructure is increasingly seen as a win-win solution for addressing a wide variety of water related urban issues. In this regard, a comprehensive performance assessment of said infrastructure can help make them more appealing to multiple sectors and improve funding prospects. Guidelines to aid in selecting the most appropriate performance and impact indicators have been developed in recent years. To evaluate the status of international guidelines dealing with various functional aspects of green infrastructures, this study critically examines various representative ones and compares them. Our review shows considerable differences between the available guidelines, for example: the EU guideline is the most comprehensive one considering the number of addressed performance indicators, while the Chinese standard does not include any of the “Social”, “Air quality” and most of the “Ecological services” indicators; mostly focusing on hydraulic performance.