In 2000, a UK government white paper promoted the prospect of an urban renaissance in the UK to be developed through a series of urban renewal initiatives to create better places for living, working and recreation. Eight years on, there continues to be a policy drive promoting better quality environments through integrative design, social inclusion and public participation. However, whether urban renewal can succeed without a progressive integration of multi-functional green spaces into the urban matrix is still uncertain. This paper proposes that green infrastructure can play a pivotal role in urban renaissance by providing a complementary green matrix of spaces that offer multi-level benefits for human populations. Green infrastructure can also be viewed as simultaneously providing natural resource sinks to assist urban climate control, water management and provide important green networks in an increasingly urbanised Britain. Due to the potential of green infrastructure to be ‘retrofitted’ into most environments, this paper argues that green infrastructures can be delivered across diverse urban environments in the UK to promote sustainable communities and landscape management. Overall, this paper will address how green infrastructure can be planned within urban environments to promote increased human integration, ecological sustainability and economic regeneration. Finally, it is suggested that the broader implications for climate control and economic regeneration delivered by green infrastructure integration will, in the long term, provide a base for a continued urban renaissance.

The potential of green infrastructure (GI) development has been recognised in a number of countries. In the UK, planning policy has identified GI and brought it into the legislative framework. It is assumed that it has a value for landscape enhancement for multifunctional aims: for increasing the adaptive capacity of the environment for climate change and long-term sustainability whilst protecting its ecological and social values. This paper uses an evaluative tool developed from a plan of action proposed in the early stages of GI thinking by applying it to a contemporary case study in England. This assessment reveals a mismatch between policy aims and the potential on the ground for creating GI. The study reveals ‘institutional schizophrenia’, a fragmented approach to the delivery of GI that affects stakeholder collaboration and confidence. The findings suggest a possible decrease in the level of GI creation because of restrictions placed upon local authorities and important repercussions for GI development and potential ecosystem services.

When Lowenthal (1985) talked about the past being a foreign country, he discussed how our perceptions of the landscape were shaped by experience, by socio-cultural actions and by our changing commi...

Covid-19 changed the way many people viewed and interacted with the natural environment. In the UK, a series of national lockdowns limited the number of places that individuals could use to support their mental and physical health. Parks, gardens, canals and other “green infrastructure” (GI) resources remained open and were repositioned as “essential infrastructure” supporting well-being. However, the quality, functionality and location of GI in urban areas illustrated a disparity in distribution that meant that in many cases communities with higher ethnic diversity, lower income and greater health inequality suffered from insufficient access. This paper provides commentary on these issues, reflecting on how planners, urban designers and environmental organizations are positioning GI in decision-making to address inequality. Through a discussion of access and quality in an era of austerity funding, this paper proposes potential pathways to equitable environmental planning that address historical and contemporary disenfranchisement with the natural environment in urban areas.

The evolution of Green Infrastructure (GI) planning has varied dramatically between nations. Although a grounded set of principles are recognized globally, there is increasing variance in how these are implemented at a national and sub-national level. To investigate this the following paper presents an evaluation of how green infrastructure has been planned for in England and Germany illustrating how national policy structures facilitate variance in application. Adopting an evaluative framework linked to the identification of GI, its development and monitoring/feedback the paper questions the impacts on delivery of intersecting factors including terminology, spatial distribution and functionality on effective GI investment. This process reviews how changing policy structures have influenced the framing of green infrastructure policy, and subsequent impact this has on the delivery of green infrastructure projects.