GCV Green Network
Connecting Our Quality Spaces

What is “Green Infrastructure”?

‘Green Infrastructure’ are those design elements that contribute to the delivery of the Green Network within developments, brought together in a place-making masterplan.

Typically green infrastructure design elements are

•   Water management
•   Access networks
•   Habitat networks
•   Green and open space
•   Stewardship over time

Green Infrastructure and Masterplans

‘A robust and imaginative spatial development framework or ‘masterplan’ is essential to creating somewhere that functions as an integrated place…[and] must specify how infrastructure (streets, spaces, utilities, community facilities) and components (blocks, plots, buildings) relate to each other and how together they will deliver a vision.’
(Delivering Better Places in Scotland, Scottish Government, 2010)

Green Infrastructure design elements help to create ‘a robust and imaginative’ masterplan. Green Infrastructure design elements can add value to both ‘infrastructure’ and ‘components’ in a masterplan.

Why is “Integration” necessary?

“The design of external spaces is as important a masterplan consideration as the design of the buildings…Unfortunately, in some proposals it was evident that the landscape had been dealt with as an afterthought, and that open spaces were residual – the parts left over once road and plot layouts had been determined”
(Design Review Masterplans, Architecture & Design Scotland)

The Green Network, and the green infrastructure that helps to deliver the Green Network, must not be an afterthought if sustainable places where people want to live and work are to be delivered. Too often the design process is dominated by road transport considerations at the expense of green infrastructure design elements.

Our approach seeks to provide the tools and structures necessary to allow green infrastructure design elements to be weighed alongside the needs of road transportation, based on defendable analysis of existing conditions and opportunities that can be delivered through good design solutions.

What are the benefits of IGI?

For planners: Planning applications that deliver policy: easier assessment of planning applications

For developers: A clear design brief and provides confidence that proposals meet planning requirements

For residents: Homes in places where people are proud to live; that encourage active lifestyles; and, provide havens for wildlife