Green Infrastructure: Smart Conservation for the 21st Century

Webster’s New World Dictionary defines infrastructure as “the substructure or underlying foundation, especially the basic installations and facilities on which the continuance and growth of a community depends.” When they hear the term infrastructure, most people think of roads, sewers, utility lines, and other gray infrastructure; or hospitals, schools, prisons, and other social infrastructure. Taken together, these types of facilities are often referred to as built infrastructure. Today, many people and organizations are talking about another type of infrastructure that is critical to the “continuance and growth of a community”: green infrastructure.