Urban green infrastructure

Page Last modified 24 Mar 2017

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Green infrastructure will play a key role in achieving EU policy objectives, especially when using nature based solutions to preserve natural capital. Creating and improving the knowledge base remains one of the strategic developments for the implementation of the EU Strategy on green infrastructure.

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In this section you will find:

Introduction: what is green urban infrastructure?

Introduction on the concept of green urban infrastructure, the European Union's policy on green infrastructure, and the EEA's contribution to the topic.

Interactive map and data viewer

The interactive tool gives access to:

- four green infrastructure indicators
- city typologies
- city factsheets for more than 380 cities

Related content

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Interactive map - Green infrastructure indicators Indicators to characterise green infrastructure at the city level and in the peri-urban area

What is green infrastructure? Green Infrastructure (GI) is based on the principle that ‘protecting and enhancing nature and natural processes […] are consciously integrated into spatial planning and territorial development’. Accordingly, the Green Infrastructure Strategy defines GI as ‘a strategically planned network of natural and semi-natural areas with other environmental features designed and managed to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services’ in both rural and urban settings (EC, 2013a).

City typology Urban Green Infrastructure (GI) typology and its analysis are expected to feed into urban sustainability by providing insights on the environmental performance of cities with regard to urban GI. Accordingly, a cluster analysis has been performed to identify cities that have similar characteristics when it comes to certain urban green infrastructure elements.

Indicators for urban green infrastructure Green infrastructure (GI) facilitates climate change adaptation and mitigation, improves health and quality of life, and favours biodiversity conservation. Among ecosystem services provided by urban green spaces are temperature amelioration, a decrease of rainwater runoff and protection against floods, carbon storage and sequestration and pollution control, as well as aesthetic and recreational services (Ong, 2002).

Glossary for urban green infrastructure

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Geographic coverage

Austria , Belgium , Bulgaria , Croatia , Cyprus , Czech Republic , Denmark , Estonia , Finland , France , Germany , Greece , Hungary , Iceland , Ireland , Italy , Latvia , Liechtenstein , Lithuania , Luxembourg , Malta , Netherlands , Norway , Poland , Portugal , Romania , Slovakia , Slovenia , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland , Turkey , United Kingdom

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For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/sustainability-transitions/urban-environment/urban-green-infrastructure/urban-green-infrastructure or scan the QR code.

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