Nature-based Solutions at the Interface of Hydro-Environmental Science, Social Justice, and Complex Decision-making

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dc.contributor.advisorWang, Keh-Han
dc.contributor.committeeMemberLee, Hyongki
dc.contributor.committeeMemberVipulanandan, Cumaraswamy
dc.contributor.committeeMemberLi, Hong-Yi
dc.contributor.committeeMemberSivapalan, Murugesu
dc.creatorCastro, Cynthia Vail
dc.creator.orcid0000-0002-8825-9900
dc.date.accessioned2022-06-17T22:36:18Z
dc.date.createdDecember 2021
dc.date.issued2021-12
dc.date.submittedDecember 2021
dc.date.updated2022-06-17T22:36:19Z
dc.description.abstractOne of the greatest threats facing civilization is climate change and the associated impacts to biodiversity, hydro-meteorological hazards, environmental degradation, and social vulnerability. We have the opportunity to mitigate such negative effects by embracing the restorative power of nature and strategically incorporating natural systems within the built environment. Nature-based solutions (NBSs) encompass various types of green infrastructure, which combine earthen and engineered materials, to reduce the flow of stormwater and capture pollutants at the source of collection. By increasing greenspace within the built environment, NBSs also store carbon emissions, improve societal well-being, and restore ecosystem health. However, NBSs have not reached their full potential due to an inadequate understanding of how hydro-environmental dynamics and social characteristics interrelate within the overall system, particularly at the level of human activity and urban planning (i.e., the watershed-scale). Moreover, NBS implementation has been constrained due to elusive institutional and societal barriers that have yet to be fully understood and positioned within actionable policy frameworks. The challenges facing NBS adoption are not purely qualitative nor quantitative, as they exist at an interface between the social and physical sciences. Historically, much of the work involving human-water systems has been conducted in rural environments, due in part to challenges of urban stormwater modeling. In order to foster sustainable solutions within the built environment, we must extend our systems-thinking approaches to thoroughly entangle one of the most complex systems available: the flood-prone metropolis. As such, this study amalgamates hydro-environmental science, social justice, and complex decision-making using intersectoral approaches to strengthen NBS adoption within the urban environment. Specifically, this study bridges disciplinary divides to 1) advance NBS policy-making using stakeholder cognition and properties of network theory, 2) address overlapping NBS functionalities by developing a novel spatial data infrastructure system for the entire contiguous United States, and 3) optimize NBS planning at the watershed-scale by balancing economic, environmental, and social characteristics. NBSs are investigated as a holistic human-environmental system with many vantage points for analysis, thereby eliciting novel causal connections across institutional and spatial planning scales.
dc.description.departmentCivil and Environmental Engineering, Department of
dc.format.digitalOriginborn digital
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.citationPortions of this document appear in: Castro, C. V., & Rifai, H. S. (2021). Development and Assessment of a Web-Based National Spatial Data Infrastructure for Nature-Based Solutions and Their Social, Hydrological, Ecological, and Environmental Co-Benefits. Sustainability, 13(19), 11018; and in: Castro, C. (2021). Holistic systems-thinking for policy coherence: A case study of socio-institutional challenges and opportunities for improved adoption of nature-based solutions. (Preprint) EarthArxiv, 2765; and in: Castro, C. (2021). Optimizing nature-based solutions by combining social equity, hydro-environmental efficiency, and economic costs through a novel Gini coefficient. (Preprint) EarthArxiv, 2861.
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10657/9282
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rightsThe author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. UH Libraries has secured permission to reproduce any and all previously published materials contained in the work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).
dc.subjectnature-based solutions
dc.subjectsustainability
dc.subjectgreen infrastructure
dc.subjectgeographical information systems
dc.subjectweb applications
dc.subjectspatial data information systems
dc.subjectsociety
dc.subjectmulti-functionality
dc.subjectgeomatics
dc.subjectcausal loop diagram
dc.subjectfuzzy cognitive mapping
dc.subjectfeedback loops
dc.subjecthuman-water systems
dc.subjectscenario building
dc.subjectsustainable decision-making
dc.subjectGini coefficient
dc.subjectLorenz curve
dc.subjectwater resources planning
dc.subjectmulti-objective optimization
dc.titleNature-based Solutions at the Interface of Hydro-Environmental Science, Social Justice, and Complex Decision-making
dc.type.dcmiText
dc.type.genreThesis
dcterms.accessRightsThe full text of this item is not available at this time because the student has placed this item under an embargo for a period of time. The Libraries are not authorized to provide a copy of this work during the embargo period.
local.embargo.lift2023-12-01
local.embargo.terms2023-12-01
thesis.degree.collegeCullen College of Engineering
thesis.degree.departmentCivil and Environmental Engineering, Department of
thesis.degree.disciplineCivil Engineering
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Houston
thesis.degree.levelDoctoral
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy

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