Exploring the concept of green infrastructure in urban landscape. Experiences from Italy, Canada and Finland

Abstract

Several disciplines, such as landscape architecture, species conservation and water management, have contributed to the advancement of knowledge of Green Infrastructure (GI). However, doubts remain on the best approach to embed the concept of GI and related components in planning policies and practice. This paper presents a literature review of the scientific and policy frameworks of GI as well as the knowledge gap that exists between academics and practitioners. Furthermore, a discourse analysis of planning documents was conducted in the metropolitan regions of Milan, Montreal and Helsinki. The three metropolitan regions are challenging new forms of cooperation between academics and practitioners. The results show that while studies on GI are used to support planning strategies, they struggle to address spatial, landscape and environmental issues at the local scale. Closer interdisciplinary cooperation between academics, as well as between academics and practitioners, can help to find new approaches to urban landscape.

Keywords:

• Green infrastructure
• human-dominated landscape
• knowledge gap
• academics
• practitioners

Acknowledgements

The project was conducted at Aalto University and supported by the Academy of Finland, Strategic Research Council on Urbanizing Society. Beyond MALPE-coordination: Integrative Envisioning, BeMInE [under Grant number 13303549 STN].