Exploring Green Streets and rain gardens as instances of small scale nature and environmental learning tools

•Multiple points of contact and a diversity of programming aids in stormwater awareness.•Signage and kinetic art in public places is helpful in engaging the public in stormwater education.•Green Streets showed potential for fostering stormwater awareness.•Perceptions of Green Streets as “nature” are not straight forward.

Sustainable stormwater management facilities such as bioswales and rain gardens are one way in which cities are simultaneously addressing the need to replace or repair stormwater infrastructure while also meeting regulatory obligations. Retrofitting patterns of neighborhood development through the implementation of infrastructure like bioswales is localized solution to stormwater management. Such infrastructure addresses sustainability and resilience goals while reflecting the city as part of rather than separate from the ecosystem. This article presents results of a subset of 42 semi-structured interviews collected through an exploratory qualitative case study of Portland Oregon's Tabor to the River program. These findings focus on Green Streets (bioswales), asking whether participants consider them small scale nature, and whether stormwater visibility fosters environmental learning. Results suggest that sustainable stormwater management facilities have potential toward aiding in stormwater awareness, particularly if combined with additional ways of learning (e.g., informational signs). Participant perceptions of Green Streets as small scale nature are less straight forward. This study gives some insight into the subtleties of human experiences with sustainable stormwater infrastructure, giving a glimpse into the potentials of Green Streets, and other educational inputs, in contributing to increased understanding of Portland's stormwater system. Building upon this first attempt at discovering the potential for environmental learning through sustainable stormwater infrastructure, or in their capacity in fostering connectedness with nature, could be instructive for future infrastructure planning and policy development that seeks to foster human–nature connectedness and ecological understanding within our communities.