Rethinking Infrastructure Design - Rethinking Infrastructure Design for Multi-Use Water Services - page 21

2007 ). Thus, it is important to think about GI as a means to increase human well-
being and health. There is research on the in uence of small green areas such as

neighbourhood vegetation, streets, trees, green roofs, facades or private gardens.
Neighbourhood vegetation and parks in cities are seen as valuable. Distances up to
500 m (5-minute walk) can be easily covered on a daily basis, and if that distance is
vegetated and pleasant to walk, more people will chose to walk or cycle instead of
using a car or public transport. It will allow people to meet, socialise, spend time
together without obligations or the need to spend money. Those types of vegetation
should be designed to support different age groups.

4.9 How MUS Aligns with and Supports the Concept
of Sustainability

The land covered by urban areas is expanding faster than the urban population it
supports. From 2000 to 2030, it is expected that the urban population will double
(from 2.84 to 4.9 billion people). In the same period, the total land area covered is
predicted to triple. By 2050, 70 % of people will live in urban areas.
In the next 40 years, urbanisation will take place in areas with the richest
biodiversity. Hence, cities have to become hubs of change. Simon Christmas
(Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs 2013 ) explains how we are
depleting the environment and placing heavy pressure on natural resources. By
2030, 47 % of the world s population will live in areas of high water stress (OECD

2008 ) and prime agricultural land will have been built over, with large increases in
waste generation, water and soil pollution. Food production by 2050 will have
doubled to meet the growing population

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s dietary needs; Moreover, by 2050, global
energy demand will rise by 80 % and demand for water is expected to increase by
an additional 55 %. Conventional engineering solutions only displace the effects on
ESS elsewhere, rather than solving the problem.
The MUS paradigm offers a new approach for ef

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cient planning and manage-
ment of the urban environment: one that maximises ecosystem services, minimises
negative environmental impacts and increases cities resilience. It combines natural

and technology-based solutions to avoid fragmentation of ecosystems and hence,
increase ecological functionality as a whole. The sustainability of MUS solutions
can be quanti

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ciency (reduction in demand),
water supply (reduce, reuse, recycle), urban health, food security, biodiversity, etc.
It should be noted that MUS is an innovative concept, so there are to date no
examples in which the complete MUS methodology is implemented in large scales.
However, the examples included in this course, demonstrate how adopting small-
scale MUS practises/measures in urban areas can yield major environmental, eco-
nomic and social bene

ed through indicators of energy ef

ts.