Practices in planning and design of urban green areas

The story of cities and nature is both a love-story and a battle and in both, green structure may be a useful concept. Structuring the scattered archilelago of green areas means joining forces in a battle to defend vulnerable green spaces against busy traffic, construction works and other dynamic urban pressures. But green may also describe a policy to create conditions for the love-story between urban citizens and their parks and playgrounds. Both the rich and the poor benefit from the presence of a green network, a green structure that links small gardens and neighbourhood greens to the green fingers and green belts of the urban landscape. Moreover, bringing landscape to the heart of the city, green structure planning strengthens the attractive green image of the city and creates links with the historic landscape in which the city has developped its identity. This report is a platform for the exchange of European experiences. It focuses on know-how aiming to plan, create and maintain such green structures. Through concrete examples of planning and design at 3 different scales in Belgium, this paper tries to put into the light various elements contributing to such purposes.