FAQs

'Green infrastructure' is a term used to describe the network of natural spaces and corridors in a given area.

Green infrastructure assets include open spaces such as parks and gardens, allotments, woodlands, fields, hedges, lakes, ponds, playing fields, coastal habitats, as well as footpaths, cycleways or rivers. Assets involving water can also be called ‘blue infrastructure’, but these are all included in the overarching term of ‘green infrastructure’.

These assets provide areas for recreation and education, habitats for wildlife and also provide environmental services such as flood defence or absorption of air pollution. If they did not exist, then our lives would be very different. For this reason, these natural and semi-natural areas are identified as part of the basic ‘infrastructure’ that enables us to live as we do.

The green infrastructure approach advocates that green infrastructure assets should be protected and enhanced to help sustain and improve our way of life. Green infrastructure assets should be linked to form part of a wider network, as this helps them to withstand climate change and other impacts.

Providing new green infrastructure assets can be an alternative to providing engineered structures using concrete and other hard materials otherwise known as ‘grey infrastructure’. Green infrastructure however tends to be multi-functional, often providing the added benefit of biodiversity as well as, for example, reducing flood risk, cooling summer temperatures and improving conditions for people’s health and well-being.   

'Urban Greening' is providing these Green Infrastructure features within our towns and residential areas. This could include, for example, more street trees and other natural surfaces rather than hard surfaces. Bringing nature into our towns is good for our wellbeing, good for promoting biodiversity and addresses climate change issues such as areas becoming too hot in summer or flash flooding.

Biodiversity is all the different kinds of life you’ll find in one area—the variety of animals, plants, fungi, and even microorganisms like bacteria that make up our natural world. Each of these species and organisms work together in ecosystems, like an intricate web, to maintain balance and support life. Biodiversity supports everything in nature that we need to survive: food, clean water, medicine, and shelter. (Source: World Wide Fund for Nature)