Green Infrastructure (GI) is considered a benefit for territorial development because it provides multiple functions on the same spatial area. The underlying principle of GI is that the same area of land can offer many environmental, social, cultural and economic benefits simultaneously, provided its ecosystems are in a healthy condition.

Ecosystem services cover the benefits that can be derived from ecosystems, including, among others, the provision of food, materials, clean water, clean air, climate regulation, flood prevention, pollination and recreation. Imagine you are responsible for planning an area (either in a rural region or within an urban area), faced with specific challenges which require the prioritisation of certain ecosystem service(s) such as flood risk mitigation, effects of climate change, or supporting biodiversity. You would like to assess the potential of green infrastructure to provide such services and the best way to manage this green infrastructure to make sure it can provide these services in a sustainable manner. How would you do this?

This session has a threefold aim 
(1) Providing an overview of main findings from and the methods developed in the ESPON GRETA project which are applicable for considerations by stakeholders around GI and ecosystem services for planning decisions. 
(2) Sharing experiences of stakeholders at regional and urban levels on implementing GI, analysing enabling factors and constraints 
(3) Reflecting on future research needs and guidance towards an operationalisation of the GI concept and approach for territorial development.