Green infrastructure
Green infrastructure in urban areas includes woodlands, street trees and green landscaping, open fields, parks, sports grounds (such as football pitches), private and community gardens, village greens and green or ‘living’ roofs and walls.
Green infrastructure brings multiple benefits by providing shading and cooling, the attenuation of surface water runoff, natural infiltration of contaminated flood water, and supports biodiversity. As well as seeking to provide forms of green infrastructure in new development, it is equally important to make use of and
maintain the integrity of existing green infrastructure, such as parkland and floodplains when designing small scale and strategic developments. However, when considering green infrastructure it is also important to have regard to its appropriateness and suitability in the context of climate change impacts, in particular the availability of water, longer growing seasons and changing species, and subsidence risks.
Green infrastructure can be incorporated into deveol pment at any spatial scale. It is important for a number of planning reasons, such as promoting a sense of wellbeing, providing recreational areas, and landscape design, as well as helping the built environment adapt to climate change.
Green infrastructure can be applied at all
spatial scales, including for a single
building, as this living wall shows.
Source: AECOM
Using green space and open water in Chiswick
Park, Hounslow
Source: AECOM