Memorial Drive Revitalization (Chicopee, MA)

2014

Green infrastructure planning requires a systems approach to improving ecological function while providing vital ecosystem services for human populations. This course will introduce students to the concepts, theories, and applications of greenway and green infrastructure planning at multiple scales, including the sitelevel, neighborhood, and regional scales. A particular area of focus will be the relationship of green infrastructure for improving hydrology and riparian corridors as part of comprehensive green space planning for recreation and cultural resources. The course will look at a wide range of systems including water, transportation, and food systems. A case study approach will be used to study green infrastructure projects both domestically and internationally from a planning and policy perspective, as well as implementation.

Green Infrastructure Handbook – Conceptual & Theoretical Background, Terms and Definitions, 2019

Green Infrastructure (GI) is a key strategy in the European landscape policies aimed at reconnecting vital natural areas to urban hubs as well as restoring and improving their functional roles. Thus, GI is an essential planning concept towards protecting Natural Capital and simultaneously enhancing quality of life. This approach needs to be urgently implemented in Central Europe (CE) landscape planning policies, which seldom consider the ability of land to deliver multiple benefits. The Interreg Central Europe project Managing Green Infrastructure in Central European Landscapes - MaGICLandscapes works on the operationalisation of the GI concept in Central Europe. It will provide land-managers, policy makers and communities the tools and the knowledge, at different spatial levels that they need to ensure the persistence of GI functionality and consequent benefits to society. The MaGICLandscapes project will deliver an assessment approach that deals with all spatial levels across CE landscapes types. It will supply the tools for GI assessment at the transnational level ensuring cross-border GI is understood in a way that reduces mis-matched management approaches. Nine multi-scale and multi-thematic case studies in five regions offer the testing ground for our trans-disciplinary partner consortium to identify and feedback best practice for assessment, thus creating transnational added value. Outputs include a suite of transferable tools: a series of technical manuals as well as partner-level evidence-based strategies and action plans to direct future actions as well as investment. They should enhance the capacities of institutions to better manage our Natural Heritage. This HANDBOOK OF CONCEPTUAL & THEORETICAL BACKGROUND, TERMS AND DEFINITIONS is the first output of the MaGICLandscapes project. It contains the fundamentals of green infrastructure (GI), which also includes the blue infrastructure. The handbook covers issues such as definitions of important terms or GI and its relationship to territorial law/policies of the five partner countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and Poland) and EU regulations and programmes. Furthermore, it covers the territorial/international needs for a green infrastructure approach and its contribution to sustainable development. It shows, how a green infrastructure approach can address specific territorial and common challenges. This handbook for practice-oriented information is based on a review of GI literature and legislation as well as practical experiences of the project partners and stakeholders.

Strategic Green Infrastructure Planning, 2015

Tema. Journal of Land Use, Mobility and Environment, 2019

TeMA. Journal of Land Use, Mobility and Environment offers researches, applications and contributions with a unified approach to planning and mobility and publishes original inter-disciplinary papers on the interaction of transport, land use and environment. Domains include: engineering, planning, modeling, behavior, economics, geography, regional science, sociology, architecture and design, network science and complex systems. The Italian National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes (ANVUR) classified TeMA as scientific journal in the Area 08. TeMA has also received the Sparc Europe Seal for Open Access Journals released by Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC Europe) and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). TeMA is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License and is blind peer reviewed at least by two referees selected among high-profile scientists. TeMA has been published since 2007 and is indexed in the main bibliographical databases and it is present in the catalogues of hundreds of academic and research libraries worldwide.

2015

Green infrastructure in this report refers to the interconnected set of natural and man-made ecological systems, green spaces and other landscape features. It includes planted and indigenous trees, wetlands, parks, green open spaces and original grassland and woodlands, as well as possible building and street-level design interventions that incorporate vegetation, such as green roofs. Together these assets form an infrastructure network providing services and strategic functions in the same way as traditional 'hard' infrastructure. Green space and open space are often used interchangeably. This report is primarily concerned with green space as an ecological asset. However a confusion emerges because open spaces can be 'grey' landscapes sealed with impermeable 'hard' surfaces, such as concrete or tarmac, while green space evokes ideas of permeable 'soft' surfaces such as soil, grass, shrubs, trees and water (James et al, 2009). At issue are the various references in official policies and databases to open space in a way that includes developed and undeveloped green space. The ambiguity creates a number of difficulties in deciphering the component parts of green infrastructure networks. Ecosystem services are the benefits to society provided by ecosystems or ecological assets. Hubs are green assets of varying size that overlap to anchor green infrastructure linkages in the landscape. Corridors or linkages tie green assets together, allowing for connectivity between hubs and other features of the landscape. This affords pathways for species movement and lays a basis for cumulative effects in the ecosystem services provided by otherwise isolated or segmented green assets. Multi-functionality refers to the various functions performed by ecological assets, in contrast to traditional 'grey' infrastructure, component parts of which are traditionally geared for one purpose.

Green infrastructure planning is a strategic landscape approach to open space conservation, whereby local communities, landowners, and organizations work together to identify, design, and conserve the land network essential for maintenance of healthy ecological functioning. This is essentially the definition employed by Benedict and McMahon in their book on green infrastructure (see bibliography). As defined by Benedict and McMahon "Green infrastructure is a strategically planned and managed network of wilderness, parks, greenways, conservation easements, and working lands with conservation value that supports native species, maintains natural ecological processes, sustains air and water resources, and contributes to the health and quality of life for America's communities and people" (2006).

2010

Green infrastructure offers a contemporary approach to the conceptualisation and management of landscape resources. It has developed rapidly in the UK, Europe and North America due to the opportunities it provides meeting the ecological, economic and social challenges of spatial planning. The growth witnessed in green infrastructure has been supported with the development of a number of overarching principles. Principles that provide green infrastructure research with a multi-layered understanding of the changing nature of landscape resources. This thesis outlines the complex nature of green infrastructure development, its meanings, its perception and use as an approach to landscape planning. By exploring variations in the meaning of green infrastructure this thesis presents an examination of its conceptual development to date. The second theme explores the role of perceptions on the value and use of green infrastructure resources. This examines the role of ecological, psychological and social constructions of green infrastructure assessing how these affect personal and communal landscape interpretations. The final theme discusses current green infrastructure use in practitioner and planning research outlining the varied nuances of green infrastructure assessing how the principles of green infrastructure have been translated into appropriate landscape management. Each of these themes explores the relationships between green infrastructure principles, its perceptions (by users), and its use in practice (spatial planning) to argue for a better understanding of its development and subsequent value. The themes developed in this thesis propose a number of conceptual and implementation principles for green infrastructure. The roles of integrated planning policy, strategic thinking, multi-functionality, connectivity, and access are all discussed highlighting the different forms that green infrastructure research have taken. Based on these discussions this thesis proposes that a green infrastructure approach to planning can be used to meet the complex challenges of current landscape planning. With continued development of green infrastructure some of the most pressing issues in planning; green space planning or sustainable urban development can be targeted. These issues are discussed throughout proposing clear links between this exploratory green infrastructure research and planning practice.

2019

The Nordic countries are known for their green cities, full of accessible green and blue spaces and surrounded by agricultural land, vast forests and lakes. These green and blue non-built up environments have the potential to offer a wide variety of supporting, regulating, provisioning ecosystem services and preserving cultural heritage. More precisely, Green Infrastructure is a multifunctional network that facilitates the adaptation to and mitigation of climate change, promotes human health and wellbeing, and enhances biodiversity. Strategic planning of land and water areas is necessary to ensure a coherent Green Infrastructure beyond the urban/rural divides. How do we achieve that? GREEN INFRASTRUCTUREstrategic land use for well-being, business and biodiversity POLICY BRIEF APRIL 2019 #05 NORDREGIO POLICY BRIEF 2 Nordregio has studied policy approaches and actions that facilitate Green Infrastructure (GI) in the ESPON countries as part of the GRETA project (www.espon.eu/green-infrastructure). The main findings for the Nordic countries are summarised in this Policy Brief. The aim is to support decision-making processes and political action towards a GI approach. We make recommendations on how to utilise the multifunctional concept of GI in planning processes and outline the kind of added value it could bring to the Nordic countries.

E3S Web of Conferences, 2016

Green Infrastructure is 'an interconnected network of green space that conserves natural ecosystem values and functions and provides associated benefits to human populations ' [1, p. 12]. It contributes to long term strategic development goals for data and information management. The research paper was introduced with the aim to protect green areas in urban environment by improving biodiversity, leisure and recreation, tidal and fluvial flood risk management, grey water treatment and quality of life. Planning and design of green system should provide appropriate responses to the distinctive local circumstances. Green spaces encourage social interactions, form new places to practise sport and contribute to public health and fitness, as well as have indirect benefits for a range of environmental services. The research hypothesis is that Green Infrastructure is a framework for conservation and development and we need to design Green Infrastructure systems strategically to connect across urban, suburban, rural and wilderness landscapes and incorporate green space elements and functions at the state, regional, community, neighbourhood and site scales . Analysis and design of emerging Green Infrastructure system take a holistic view which links related physical, environmental, economic, social and cultural aspects of local communities. 1000112 e3sconf/2016 E3S Web of Conferences SEED 00112 (2016)