Defining community-scale green infrastructure

Abstract

Over the last 15 years, we have seen green infrastructure planning develop and refine its focus. The observable shift is from a focus on what, to why and more recently, how we deliver green infrastructure. In the urban context, there is often an emphasis on the capacity of strategic level projects to deliver the plurality of functions and benefits we have come to expect from our towns and cities. However, PhD research conducted at the University of Liverpool brings into focus the potential for small scale green infrastructure sites to respond to green infrastructure needs. As such a new concept of community-scale green infrastructure is introduced to describe activity at the local level. With reference to examples from research in The Mersey Forest Community Forest area of the north-west of England, community-scale green infrastructure is understood as a network of groups and projects who aim to deliver locally relevant functions and benefits to respond effectively to changing social and environmental needs.

Keywords:

• Green infrastructure
• community engagement
• social capital
• civic engagement
• urban environmental stewardship