Green Infrastructure: an overview of its contribution to urban areas and an investigation of the provisions in the greek planning system

Abstract

The constant pursuit by cities for implementing sustainable urban development policies in order to address interrelated crises of socio-economic and environmental nature, such as the combined effect of climate change and the urban heat island (UHI), highlights the importance of an ecosystem approach to spatial planning. Green Infrastructure (GI) is considered to be one of the most efficient ways to address these new urban challenges. An increasing number of policy documents and legislation focus on the importance of GI and the benefits it can offer by its integration in spatial planning. The paper attempts to provide a comprehensive review of the literature about the concept of GI and its contribution to sustainable urban development and investigates to what extent and in what way critical assets of GI are integrated into the existing spatial planning system in Greece. The research is based on the study of the basic institutional framework, important policy documents and a sample of statutory spatial plans. The aim is to highlight both the potential and the critical inadequacies of the Greek spatial planning system regarding GI and to stress the need for the adoption of an ecosystem-based approach to spatial planning to address the interrelated crises.