Transcript Green Infrastructure - Landscape Institute

Green Infrastructure:
connected
and
multifunctional
landscapes
Annie Coombs FLI
Contents
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Position Statement preparation
Origins, Definitions, Chronology
Funding
Benefits
Assets, Resource
Functions, Approach, Scale
Strategies
– South Essex & Thurrock’s Green Grid
– PUSH
• Principles and Approach
• Landscape Profession
• The Mersey Forest / Weaver Valley
Photos throughout illustrate green infrastructure designed,
managed, assessed, studied by landscape architects.
Position Statement
• LI Policy Committee recommended
topics
• GI seen very much as the province
of the landscape profession
• Small working group
• Call for case studies and comments
on text from all LI members
• Sub-group met to decide on case
studies
• Edits to text
• Reviewed by Executive Committee
and “critical friends”
• Launched (May 2009)
• Use (lobbying, consultation
responses etc)
“Can I congratulate the Landscape Institute
on the position statement for Green
Infrastructure. With so many
simplifications and misunderstandings as
to what GI really offers, this statement is
clear, lacking waffle and usable.”
“My planning colleagues who are currently
preparing the Council’s GI SPD as part of
the Core Strategy think it looks excellent
and would like to use it as part of the
launch and publicity of the Borough's GI
policy”
Download or buy from:
www.landscapeinstitute.org/policy
Origin of the term GI
Ed McMahon
“Green space is not an
amenity, it’s a necessity.”
This is the phrase that
underpins his concept of green
infrastructure.
“We coined the term to
reposition the idea for the
public,” explaining that the
idea itself is not a new one.
Definitions (1)
• Explosion of interest doesn’t
equate to increased understanding
• GI is term that can mean different
things to different people
• A number of definitions available
• Significant common ground within
the available definitions:
– GI involves natural and managed
green areas in both urban and rural
settings
– GI is about the strategic connection of
open green areas and
– GI should provide multiple benefits for
people (public benefit).
www.greeninfrastructure.eu
Definitions (2):
Milton Keynes
“A planned network of multifunctional
green-spaces and interconnecting
links, which is designed, developed
and managed to meet the
environmental, social and economic
needs of communities across the
sub-region. It is set within, and
contributes to a high quality natural
and built environment and is required
to enhance the quality of life for the
present and future residents and
visitors and to deliver liveability for
sustainable communities.”*
* Planning Sustainable Communities: A green infrastructure
guide for Milton Keynes and the South Midlands
Definitions (3):
Natural England
“Green Infrastructure (GI) is a
strategically planned and delivered
network of high quality green
spaces and other environmental
features. It should be designed and
managed as a multifunctional
resource capable of delivering a
wide range of environmental and
quality of life benefits for local
communities. Green Infrastructure
includes parks, open spaces,
playing fields, woodlands,
allotments and private gardens.”
www.naturalengland.org.uk
Definitions (4):
Northwest Region
“Green Infrastructure is the
Region’s life support system
– the network of natural
environmental components
and green and blue spaces
that lies within and between
the Northwest’s cities, towns
and villages and which
provides multiple social,
economic and environmental
benefits”
www.greeninfrastructurenw.co.uk
Definitions (5)
“Green infrastructure is the
physical environment within and
between our cities, towns and
villages. It is a network of multifunctional open spaces, including
formal parks, gardens,
woodlands, green corridors,
waterways, street trees and open
countryside. It comprises all
environmental resources, and
thus a green infrastructure
approach also contributes towards
sustainable resource
management.”
www.greeninfrastucture.eu
European Landscape
Convention (ELC)
Article 1 of the ELC states:
“ “Landscape” means an area, as
perceived by people, whose character is
the result of the action and interaction of
natural and/or human factors. The term
“landscape” is thus defined as a zone or
area as perceived by local people or
visitors, whose visual features and
character are the result of the action of
natural and/or cultural (that is, human)
factors. This definition reflects the idea
that landscapes evolve through time, as
a result of being acted upon by natural
forces and human beings. It also
underlines that a landscape forms a
whole, whose natural and cultural
components are taken together, not
separately.”
GI Chronology
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Victorian Parks and city fathers
Frederick Law Olmstead (Central Park etc)
Garden cities movement
1947 Acts (green belt, national parks, AONBs)
New Towns’ movement
Ian McHarg: Design with Nature
Regional Parks
Groundwork Trust
Community forests, National forests
Ed McMahon coins the phrase “GI”
PPG17, green flag, open space strategies
Increasing use of GIS
Growth points, ecotowns, city regions
European Landscape Convention (ELC)
Regional Spatial Strategy policy (NW)
Forthcoming planning policy on GI (England)
GI funding
CABE & Natural England:
• call on local and central government
to set new priorities for funding highquality GI, highlighting the imbalance
between investment in green & grey
infrastructures.
• say towns and cities could be
transformed if GI receives a fraction
of the public investment made in
other areas.
• suggest the government’s green
stimulus package for low carbon
housing be extended to incorporate
GI; as part of a wider move to target
public expenditure on greening cities.
GI funding (2)
“A switch of public spending from
grey to green infrastructure would
trigger an environmental revolution.
At a time when investment in grey
infrastructure, such as the new road
building and road improvement
programmes, runs into billions,
investment in green infrastructure
remains tiny. We have to redesign
our cities in response to the
imperative of climate change, and
this means investment in hundreds of
thousands of green roofs, millions
more street trees, more parks, and
new urban greenways.”
Richard Simmons, CABE’s chief executive
Funding: Royal Parks
• 2,000 hectares historical parkland
• Demand-led funding approach
– Central gov & income generation
• Contribution to environment, society
& economy
• Multifunctionality brings benefits:
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Health & well-being
Tourism & economic value
Formal recreation & play
Community events
Ecology & biodiversity
Water management
Heritage
Climate change adaptation & mitigation
Amenity value
Benefits
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Climate change adaptation
Climate change mitigation
Water management
Dealing with waste
Food production
Biodiversity enhancement
Economic value
Local distinctiveness
Education
Health and recreation
Stronger communities
Economic benefits of GI
• Flood alleviation & water
management
• Economic growth & investment
• Tourism
• Climate change adaptation and
mitigation
• Quality of place
• Health & well-being
• Land & property values
• Labour productivity
• Recreation and leisure
• Land & biodiversity
• Products from the land
www.nwda.co.uk/pdf/EconomicValueofGreenInfrastructure.pdf
GI assets & resource
• GI assets are:
– Particular areas of land and water
– Serve one or more functions of
public benefit by virtue of:
• Use
• Location
• Intrinsic value
• Multifunctionality
• GI resource is a collective of:
– open spaces, public places,
rivers & coast, farmland,
woodlands, natural elements &
gardens.
GI functions (the case for GI)
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Stimulating sport, recreation & play;
Improving health;
Sustaining biodiversity;
Protecting soil, water & natural
resources;
Buffering extreme weather events
Providing a comfortable urban
environment;
Creating distinctive settings;
Improving coast and water quality;
Sustaining cultural and historical places;
Stimulating business and regeneration;
Creating meeting points for cohesive
societies;
Inspiring community environmental
stewardship;
Maintaining productive rural landscapes.
GI approach
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Wide range of functions
Have a vision
Unlock maximum # of benefits
Demand more from the land
Manage conflicting demands
Retain single/limited land use
functions in some areas
• Ecosystem services:
– Support (necessary for all – soils,
photosynthesis etc)
– Provision (food, fuel ..)
– Regulations (air/water quality, erosion)
– Culture (aesthetics, heritage, recreation)
GI Scales:
Neighbourhood Scale
Neighbourhood
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Street Trees / Home Zones
Roof Gardens (& Green Roofs)
Pocket Parks
Collective / Private Gardens
Urban Plazas
Village Greens
Local Rights of Way
Dedicated Gardens / Cemeteries
Institutional Open Spaces
Ponds & small woodlands
Play Areas
Local Nature Reserves
GI Scales: Town/city/district
Town / City /District Scale
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City Parks
Urban Canals & Waterways
Green Networks
Multi-user routes
Urban Commons
Forest Parks
Country Parks / Estates
Continuous waterfront
Municipal / Cathedral Plazas
Lakes
Major recreational spaces
Landmarks & Vistas & Gateways
GI Scales: City-region
City-regional Scale
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Regional Parks
Rivers & floodplains
Shoreline & Waterfront
Strategic & Long-distance Trails
Major (>100ha) woodlands
Community Forests
Open Access Sites
Landmarks & Vistas
Reservoirs
Environmental Management Initiatives
Strategic Corridors & Gateways
GI Scales: Strategic
• Coastline Management Planning
• Cross-boundary green networks (e.g.
South Downs – New Forest linkages
• Strategic River Catchment Plans
• National Trails & Destinations
• Strategic Infrastructure corridors
• Sub-regional strategies
• National policy statements
• Behavioural & Societal Change
Strategic Scale
GI Strategies
• Need to operate at
the relevant scale / level
• Sub-regional and
regional
• Embed across a
range of policies /
strategies
• Robust and flexible
enough to react to
political change - Tories
committed to remove
the English RDAs and
wider “bonfire of the
quangos”
Thames Gateway
South Essex Grid
Thurrock’s Green Grid Strategy
• TGGS developed in the context of the wider South
Essex Green Grid (SEGG)
• Used its own technical research (biodiversity, green
infrastructure, landscape and urban capacity, flood risk,
green belt review and open space) to tackle overarching
themes and principles laid out in SEGG and other
strategic plans (the Greening the Gateway plan, Thames
Gateway interim plan and Essex county plans).
• TGGS provides a finer grain framework than SEGG and
gives expression to the aspirations of a wide range of
partners and Thurrock’s own communities via its
community strategy.
• It will be developed into SPD.
Thurrock’s GI & Green Grid
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SPD
GI Strategy for Urban
South Hampshire
• PUSH – Partnership for Urban South
Hampshire identified GI as critical to support
sub-region’s development
• Polycentric urban region – Portsmouth,
Southampton, Fareham, Gosport, Eastleigh
& other settlements
• 1 million existing population - new growth
point – brownfield, urban infill & greenfield
needed to deliver 80,000 new homes
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an appreciation of the drivers for change
– environmental quality and condition assessment
(including landscape character)
– Analysis of community attributes
– Gap analysis of GI strategy with other initiatives
– Vision and values with stakeholders
– Threats and opportunities
Public Benefit
• Central to the research was the
area’s social, environmental and
economic characteristics
• Potential for GI to address the
deficits and deliver benefits in
relation to:
– Enjoying and protecting the special
qualities of the environment
– Restoring/enhancing environments
degraded, in decline or at risk
– Community needs and aspirations
– Economic prosperity
• Used GIS to bring together
datasets and represent spatially
the areas in need and the multiple
benefits
PUSH: Public Benefit
High numbers of old, young &
unhealthy
Moderate numbers of old, young &
unhealthy
Community needs
• Needs are greatest near the
urban areas based on
deprivation, age, risk of adverse
environmental quality etc
• Potential for delivering
community needs is a more
diffuse picture – widespread
opportunity for GI to deliver
functions
PUSH: Functional Strategies
• Stakeholders identified “themes”
reflecting priorities
• Key quality of life issues for the
area led to 8 headline themes
• Each comprised a range of GI
functions
• Led to development of functional
strategies:
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Biodiversity;
Coast and Water;
Green Access and Movement;
Parks for the Future;
Working Landscapes;
Landscape Culture and Heritage.
Example of GI principles
• Contribute to management, enhancement,
conservation of local landscape
• Contribute to protection & conservation of
historic, archaeological, built heritage
• Maintain and enhance biodiversity
• Provide connectivity, avoid fragmentation
• Be designed to facilitate sustainable longterm management
• Create new recreation facilities
• Link town and country
• Take account of natural systems
• Designed to high standards
• Provide for social inclusion, community
development and life-long learning.
Roles of landscape
professionals
• Multidisciplinary approach
• All scales
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Policy guidance
Strategies
Local Development Frameworks
Character/Sensitivity studies
Development control
Environmental assessment
Masterplanning
Design and implementation
Management
Research
Facilitation & creative engagement
The Mersey Forest
• The North West GI Guide sets out
a 5-stage process for green
infrastructure planning:
1. Partnership and priorities
2. Data audit and green infrastructure
resource mapping
3. Functional assessment
4. Needs assessment
5. Intervention plan.
1. Partnership & priorities
The Mersey Forest Delivery Plan 2009 - 2014
• Goals delivered achieve partners
objectives:
– Public service agreements
– Local Area Agreements
– Local Authority strategies (health,
education, open space, regeneration..)
– Regional Forestry Framework
– Regional Spatial Strategy
– Regional Climate Change Action Plan
– Regional Economic Strategy.
• Gross Value Added (GVA)
– Developing ways to assess Mersey
Forest achievements against partners
monitoring targets of outcomes and
outputs.
2. Resource mapping: Types
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general amenity space
outdoor sports facilities
woodland
water courses
water bodies
grassland, heathland & moorland
coastal habitat
agricultural land
allotments, community gardens & urban
farms
cemeteries, churchyards & burial grounds
derelict land
private domestic gardens
trees
institutional grounds
wetlands
other?? (e.g. verges)
orchard street trees
3. GI functions:
(Cheshire sub-region)
•recreation - public
•recreation - private
•green travel route
•aesthetic
•water storage
•water interception
•water infiltration /
natural drainage
•storm protection coastal
•shading from sun
•evaporative cooling
•trapping pollutants
•noise absorption
•habitat for wildlife
•corridor for wildlife
•soil stabilisation
•heritage
•cultural asset
•carbon storage
•food production
•timber production
•biofuels
production
•water supply
•wind shelter
•learning
3.& 4. GI Functions:
definition & need
•recreation – public
–DEFINITION: area anyone can use
without having to pay or get keys
– GREATEST NEED: high population
density (present & future), low population
mobility, poor health, much leisure time
•water storage
–DEFINITION: Stores flood waters.
–GREATEST NEED: upstream of urban
areas intersecting flood plains
•shading from sun
–DEFINITION: Shading of people,
buildings, and surfaces from solar radiation.
–GREATEST NEED: high population
density (present & future), high quality
agricultural land, schools, shopping areas,
visitor attractions
3. Functions: Mouth of the Weaver
Mouth of the Weaver
What you can do....
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Raise awareness about GI
Lobby planning system at all levels
Adopt a multi-disciplinary approach
Press for vision for the natural
environment and functions
Ignore administrative boundaries –
promote ELC “landscape” definition
Promote advance consideration – GI
often needed before growth (levies)
Make the case for revenue as well as
capital expenditure
Argue for investment in management
Communicate the benefits
Involve the private sector
Provide case studies to the LI library.
Photo credits
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Giles Barnard
Bill Blackledge
Cheshire East
Cheshire West and Chester
Annie Coombs
Chris Driver
Gillespies
Groundwork
Gustafsson Porter
HED
Andy Lane
North Lincolnshire Council
ODA
Place Design + Planning Ltd
Mike Roberts
TEP
Townshend Landscape Architects
Karen Wright Photography
Thank you for listening
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