Appealing to a broad audience, this book bridges different issues, from landscape to ecosystems, planning to implementation, and policies to local community willingness. This book outlines a methodology for defining Green Infrastructure (GI) in rural landscapes, showing how it underpins Ecosystem Services (ES) and aligns with various EU directives. There are presented examples in Portuguese rural landscapes alongside international initiatives from several countries.
Building on the concept of landscape as an open, autopoietic system with distinct resilience thresholds, the book demonstrates how GI serves as a versatile framework to support ES, implement Nature-Based Solutions and the more recent Nature Futures Framework scenarios. Through real-world studies, the authors illustrate its flexibility and applicability across different scales and environments while respecting each locations unique characteristics.
Written for planners, designers, policymakers, and academic institutions, this book offers a valuable resource for supporting sustainable land management, public policy formulation, planning, and innovative design practices, fostering informed debate on these topics and advancing eco-conscious initiatives for a sustainable future.
Appealing to a broad audience, this book bridges different issues, from landscape to ecosystems, planning to implementation, and policies to local community willingness. This book outlines a methodology for defining Green Infrastructure in rural landscapes, showing how it underpins Ecosystem Services and aligns with various EU directives.
List of figures
List of tables
List of contributors
Introduction
SECTION I. A COMMON GROUND FOR GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE IN LANDSCAPE PLANNING
1 Concept of Structure - evolution, modalities, problems
Adriana Verķssimo Serrćo
2. Landscape System - concepts and a methodology for planning landscapes FIG
Manuela Magalhćes, Natįlia Cunha
3. Reconnecting Networks - A methodological approach to Green Infrastructure
design at landscape level FIG
Natįlia Cunha, Manuela Magalhćes
4. From planning to practice - Restoration and conservation actions for GI
implementation
Luķsa Franco, Natįlia Cunha, Manuela Magalhćes
5. The management logics of private landowners and their implication for
landscape transformation
Luķsa Franco, Manuela Magalhćes, Fernando Oliveira Batista
6. Dynamic landscapes: Insights into Geology and Geomorphology diversity
Maria Manuela Abreu, Selma Pena
SECTION II. LINKING GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES IN RURAL
LANDSCAPE
7. Unlocking Natures Benefits: Ecosystem services in rural landscape
planning
Selma Pena, Pedro Xavier, Natįlia Cunha, Ana Müller
8. EUNIS Habitat Classification Implementation at the national level for
mainland Portugal
Pedro Xavier, Silvia Ribeiro, Jorge Capelo, Selma Pena, Natįlia Cunha
9. A comprehensive analysis of water conservation ecosystem services at the
river basin level
Selma Pena, Manuela Abreu, Natįlia Cunha
10. Soil conservation ecosystem services at regional scale
Selma Pena, Manuela Abreu, Nuno Cortez
11. Biodiversity ecosystem services: a case study on Habitat maintenance for
flora species with conservation status in Portugal
Pedro Xavier, Sķlvia Ribeiro, Dalila Espirito-Santo, Selma Pena, Natįlia
Cunha
SECTION III. APPLICATIONS ACROSS SCALES AND COUNTRIES
12. Monsanto Urban Forest Landscape Plan: Integrating Nature-Based Solutions
into Lisbon's Metropolitan Green Infrastructure
Ana Müller, Manuela Magalhćes, Natįlia Cunha, Selma Pena, Luķsa Franco
13. Noticing the Landscape: dwelling, abandoning, entangling
Francisca Lima, Annie Gallagher, Melisa Miranda Correa, Tiago Torres-Campos
14. Eco Account and State-wide Biotope Network Plan (SW Germany)
Christian Küpfer
15. Agroecosystems as Green Infrastructure. Case Study in Milan (Italy)
Francesca Neonato
16. Boughzoul (Algeria), a new « sustainable » town waiting for users
Fares Trodi, Karima Bencherif-Trodi
17. Green Infrastructure in Spain
Pedro Calaza, Paloma Carińanos
18. Landscape transformation across scales: From municipal to local
experience
Ana Müller, Manuela Magalhćes, Natįlia Cunha
19. Planning towards a sustainable and fire resilient landscape on Commons
Lands
Inźs Adagói, Pedro Xavier, Selma Pena
Index
Natįlia Cunha, PhD in Landscape Architecture (ISA/ University of Lisbon) and MSc in Geographic Information Systems ( GIS) (IST Técnico/ University of Lisbon), she has been a researcher at LEAF - Instituto Superior de Agronomia since 2001. From 2004 to 2013, she worked as a teaching assistant at both ISA and IST and has published in peer-reviewed journals. She specialises in GIS-based landscape planning methodologies, contributing to several R&D projects related to green plans, ecological networks, GI land morphology, and flood risk mapping. Her postdoctoral research (CEEC/FCT, 20192024) focuses on integrating natural value protection into spatial planning. Recently, she co-coordinated LEAF/ISA project LandGi-nexus (2021 2023).
Manuela Magalhćes, PhD in Landscape Architecture (ISA/ University of Lisbon). She founded and coordinated the Research Centre for Landscape Architecture (CEAP) in 2001. She was Deputy to the Secretary of State for the Environment and Head of the Landscape Planning Studies Division. As Professor at the School of Agronomy and Instituto Superior Técnico (UL), she has coordinated several Green Municipal Plans and research projects, including the National Ecological Network and the Potential Landscape Plan of Portugal. A founding member and General Secretary of the Portuguese Landscape Architect Association (APAP). In 2022, she was awarded the Gonēalo Ribeiro TellesEnvironment and Landscape career prize.
