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Evaluating the demands of Green Infrastructure Development: People, Policy and Practice

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7275/fabos.926

Publication Date

2010

Abstract

The past decade has seen major development in green infrastructure research and planning practice. The principles of green infrastructure, first articulated by Benedict & McMahon (2006), have permeated into landscape planning in the UK prompting responses from national, regional and local government to the desire for more sustainable and multi-functional landscapes. However, in England, problems are still apparent in determining the focus for green infrastructure planning in particular contexts. There is considerable difficulty in relation to the existing restrictions of landscape policy and legislation. National landscape designation, including SSSI’s (Sites of Special Scientific Interest), is one area that lacks flexibility and places restrictions on landscape change in order to protect the status quo of sites.

The need to devise evaluation approaches to help resolve this situation will form the main argument of this paper. Using the example of green infrastructure planning in England this paper will use a model developed in the north-east of England to evaluate a case in Cambridgeshire. The levels of negotiation and compromise needed to develop green infrastructure will be discussed. The pressures placed upon landscapes from a planning, development, and conservation perspective are often contradictory; issues of appropriateness and project focus are of key importance. A collaborative approach and considerable compromise may be necessary in order to promote the multiple benefits of green infrastructure development and in order to allow implementation to take place.

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