Check out the episode:

You can find the transcripts through this link.

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Are you interested in the economic valuation of grey vs green infrastructure solutions?

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Debate of the article titled Is coastal climate adaptation infrastructure worth public investment? Evidence from stated preference economic valuation and cost-benefit analysis from 2025, by Haoluan Wang, published in the Journal of Environmental Management.

This is a great preparation to our next interview with Louis de Jaeger in episode 412 talking about the need for regenerative nature based solutions instead of degenerative infrastructure.

Since we are investigating the future of cities, I thought it would be interesting to see how green and grey adaptation infrastructure compare not just in solving the problems, but financially. This article investigates the economic viability of coastal climate adaptation by comparing green vs grey infrastructure.

Find the article through this link.

Abstract: Public preferences for climate adaptation infrastructure have been increasingly studied worldwide due to climate change and sea-level rise, especially in coastal regions. In this study, we conduct a discrete choice experiment among South Florida residents to elicit their willingness to pay (WTP) for climate adaptation projects that incorporate both green and grey infrastructure along the coastline. By combining engineering cost estimates for these projects with the aggregate WTP from residents, we further perform a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis. Our findings reveal a strong preference for green infrastructure over grey infrastructure among residents. Certain respondent characteristics account for the differences in WTP for climate adaptation projects. Our cost-benefit analysis shows that all coastal climate adaptation projects examined in this study are worthy of public investment. However, projects focusing on green infrastructure offer a benefit-cost ratio more than double that of grey infrastructure. As the lifespan of the project increases, so does the benefit-cost ratio that these projects can generate. Overall, our results provide valuable policy insights for coastal protection strategies and planning.

Connecting episodes you might be interested in:

• No.257R – Formal Model for Green Urbanism in Smart Cities
• No.258 – Interview with Matt Gijselman about green and blue infrastructure

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