Green-Blue Infrastructure in Urban-Rural Landscapes - Introducing Resilient Citylands

Abstract

With the global change crisis pushing and new knowledge about
sustainability in socio-ecological systems pulling there presently is
a window of opportunity to further our understanding about resilient
landscapes. In this paper we focus on Green-blue infrastructure as a
key component of human settlements. Our main focus is theoretical
and conceptual but we also illustrate its values and functions to deliver
recreation, preserve biodiversity, create urban structure, support cultural
identity, provide ecosystems services and maintain primary production/
recycling. We further elaborate on the potential for new interactions
between green-blue- and built structures, discussing international
cases of both practical and theoretical relevance. Resilient Citylands is
proposed as a new concept useful for e.g. landscape architecture and
planning. It represents a new reciprocal co-evolution for different scales:
of urban and rural areas; of human settlements and natural ecosystems1,
and of constructed and green-blue areas and elements within urban settings.
We investigate how functionally dense, mixed-use, vibrant, intersensory
and contemporary urban areas could be combined with cutting
edge, lean and efficient rural areas.