GreenInfrastructurepositionstatement13May09.pdf

Green infrastructure:

connected and

multifunctional landscapes

Landscape

Institute

Position statement

Foreword

We are faced with a wide range of serious environmental, social and economic

challenges; developing housing to meet demographic changes, ensuring that our

environments are resilient to a changing climate, maintaining adequate supplies of

water, managing flood risk, securing food and energy supplies and safeguarding

against biodiversity loss — all of these, and more, need to be considered by anyone

concerned with the planning, design and management of our places.

The Landscape Institute believes that green infrastructure (GI) represents an

approach to land use that has a critical role in meeting many of these challenges. It

achieves this through its multifunctional and connected nature and is underpinned by

the concept of ecosystem services, an approach which recognises the many benefits

that are generated by natural ec osys tems .

Taking a holistic approach, landscape practitioners are playing a key role in

GI delivery in collaboration with other professions. This cross-professional

approach c an help ensure that GI deliver s the wide range of b enef it s it has the

potential to provide.

In rec ognition of the impor t anc e of GI, this Position St atement is designed to:

— explain the many benefits of GI and the policy objectives it can help achieve;

— demonstrate the critical role that landscape practitioners (landscape architects,

managers and scientists) have to play in the development of GI;

— show how GI works .

T he L andsc ape Ins titute c alls for GI to b e af forded the same priorit y as more

conventional infrastructural components; a priority that the concept rightly deserves

given its critical role in addressing a wide range of pressing environmental, social and

economic challenges.

Neil Williamson

Jon Lovell

President

Chair, Policy Committee

Introduction

The networks of green spaces, rivers

and lakes that intersperse and connect

villages, towns and cities are at the

heart of our green infrastructure (GI).

These elements perform a vast range

of functions and deliver many benefits.

Developing GI, a process which involves

planning, design, implementation and

management, presents an opportunity to

achieve many social, environmental and

economic objectives. Its multifunctional

nature, with benefits enhanced through

connectivity, means that GI represents

an approach to the use of our limited land

resource which cannot now be ignored.

The value of natural elements in

urban and rural environments, and the

economic, social and environmental

benefits they provide, is beginning to

gain recognition. However, there is still

a widespread lack of awareness of how

important these assets are, demonstrated

by the frequent failure to plan, design

and manage them appropriately. Natural

as se t s are of ten seen as separate entities

— afterthoughts in the discipline of land

use planning which gives priority to

‘grey infrastructure’ at the expense of

the natural environment. This approach

fails to recognise the symbiosis between

the quality and connectivity of natural

assets with local environmental

and economic performance. The

result can be a disconnected series

of inadequately-managed natural

elements which deliver far fewer public

b enef it s than c ould b e provided.

Overcoming this failure — of policy,

investment and service delivery —

relies on the rec ognition that the natural

environment has a critical role to play

in sustaining life, and the quality of that

life, through the provision of a range

of different functions. It relies on an

understanding that these functions are

multiplied and enhanced significantly

when the natural environment is planned

and managed as an integrated whole;

a managed network of green spaces,

habitats and places providing benefits

which exceed the sum of the individual

parts. It is this concept of connectivity

and multifunctionality which makes the

GI approach such an impor t ant par t of

landscape planning and management.

The concern for the natural

environment goes beyond environment

for environment’s sake. The advocacy

of GI delivery in urban and rural

environments is based on the fact that a

wide range of challenges depend on both

its quality and integrity, including:

— climate change mitigation and

adaptation;

— safeguarding and encouraging

biodiversity;

— economic productivity;

— food and energy security;

— public health and wellbeing;

— social cohesion;

— reconnecting people with the natural

environment;

— sustainable use of a finite land

resource; and

— the importance of place-making in

sustainable communities.

Our lives are surrounded and enriched by

green assets. Some of these, like public

parks, are planned and designed. Others,

such as protected coastlines, may be

more natural. Sometimes our green

assets are unintended consequences

of other kinds of planning — motorway

verges and railway embankments

provide a network of connected green

spaces. Up until recently, these assets

have generally been thought of in terms

of single functions. Parks were conceived

of as areas for play and re c reation.

Wildlife reserves were places dedicated

to the preservation of particular species.

Canal towpaths or cycle routes were

planned for leisure or transport use.

A number of barriers to GI delivery

inhibit uptake of an approach which

leads to the development of rich,

multifunctional places. There are many

examples where GI has been successfully

delivered throughout the country and

multiple benefits have been generated.

With an improved understanding of

the concept, greater policy support,

increased investment and a more

collaborative approach, GI should

become central to the way we think about

and use our land.

Position statement

Pag e 1

Landscape Institute Green infrastructure:

connected and multifunctional landscapes

Case studies

Five case studies

have been chosen

to show how

multifunctional

and connected

GI has been

delivered, bringing

with it significant

environmental,

social and

economic benefits

The Nor th West —

Newlands,

The Mersey Forest

and Weaver Valley Initiative

Crewe Business Park,

Cheshire

Of all UK regions, the North West of

England has the richest track record in

the delivery of urban GI. GI has been

a feature of the region’s planning and

public policy throughout its journey from

the world’s first industrial powerhouse

through its post-industrial transition

towards a services and knowledge-based

economy in the latter decades of the

twentieth century. The North West was

home to Britain’s first publicly funded

park, Birkenhead Park, created in 1847

by Sir Joseph Paxton as a green lung for

the heavily-industrialised town. The first

Groundwork Trust was established in St

Helens in 1981 as a vehicle to regenerate

a network of derelict, post-industrial

sites, such as colliery spoil heaps, as

public open spaces. The Mersey Basin

C ampaign was es t ablished as an

environmental regeneration programme,

predominantly focused on cleaning up

the then dirtiest river in the world, but

simultaneously delivering a wide range of

social and economic benefits. Supported

by strong regional policy, Newlands,

T he Mer sey Fores t and the Weaver

Valley Initiative build on this track record,

generating far-reaching environmental,

social and ec onomic b enef it s .

Crewe Business Park in South Cheshire

is a 27 hectare site at the heart of the

transport infrastructure for the North

Wes t of England. GI has played a

central role in its design and it has

received awards for commitment to

the environment. It illustrates how

investment in GI can yield financial

benefits as well as creating space for

biodiversity and informal recreation. This

approach is an exc ellent example of GI

and multifunctional land use. At the time

it was started, 20 years ago, this was a

radical approach which has been justified

by an exc ellent rec ord of suc c es s . It

demonstrates how, despite the relatively

rec ent es t ablishment of the term

‘green infrastructure’, the underlying GI

concepts of multifunctional land use and

connectivity have, in some cases, been a

feature of land use planning, design and

management for some time.

Position statement

Pag e 2

Landscape Institute Green infrastructure:

connected and multifunctional landscapes

Ingrebourne Hill, London

The River Ray Corridor,

Swindon

The Royal Parks, London

Ingrebourne Hill is a 56 hectare site

located in the London Borough of

Havering, adjacent to the Ingrebourne

River, Hornchurch Country Park and the

communities of South Hornchurch and

Rainham. In the 1950s Ingrebourne Hill

changed from being a farm to a gravel

extraction site until the 1960s when it was

used for landfill. Various different land

uses followed on the site until the Forestry

Commission, through the Thames Chase

Community Forest, became involved in

turning it into a community green space.

In 2006, extra funding was made available

to develop additional GI on the site. The

project illustrates the restoration of a

brownfield site which has created new

habitats for biodiversity and developed

recreational infrastructure for local

communities.

The River Ray Corridor is a strategically

important network in the North West of

Swindon. In 1968 the valley of the River

Ray was described as ‘a major landscape

penetration to the town centre’ linking

it ‘intimately with the Thames Valley

and its present and potential regional

facilities’. Although the vision of the

River Ray Corridor as an outdoor aquatic

park was never realised, for t y year s on,

it connects urban Swindon to its rural

fringes and settlements through four

major open spaces and linear links. The

network is a good example of creating

and developing GI through partnership

working, with varied funding and

community involvement and ownership.

It also illustrates how such networks can

develop over time.

The Royal Parks, London, have developed

a demand-led funding approach to

ensure that their important contribution

to the environment, economy and

society is maintained in the future. The

approach to their management and

operations is holistic and considers the

various different demands with which

they are faced. This approach must

provide a mechanism which conserves

and enhances the varied character of

all Royal Parks and has relevance to the

management of other green spac es

across the country.

Position statement

Pag e 3

Landscape Institute Green infrastructure:

connected and multifunctional landscapes

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