Transformation pathways towards sustainable urban development by the inclusion of peri-urban farmland in green infrastructure strategies

Abstract

Urbanization and agricultural land use are two of the main drivers of global changes with effects on ecosystem functions and human wellbeing.Green infrastructure is a new and promising approach in spatial planningcontributing to sustainable urban development, but rarely considersspatial and functional potentials of utilizable agricultural land as anintegral part. This doctoral thesis addresses this gap and investigates howperi-urban farmland can promote green infrastructure development andsustainable urban development. The results contribute to the conceptualunderstanding of urban green infrastructures as a strategic spatial planningapproach that incorporates inner-urban utilizable agricultural land andthe agriculturally dominated landscape at the outer urban fringe. Fourstrategies are introduced for spatial planning with the contribution to astrategically planned multifunctional network. Finally, this thesis shedslight on the opportunities that arise from the integration of peri-urbanfarmland in the green infrastructure concept to support transformationtowards a more sustainable urban development. This work concludesthat the linkage of peri-urban farmland with the green infrastructureconcept is a promising action field for the development of new pathwaysfor urban transformation towards sustainable urban development. Alongwith these outcomes, attention is drawn to limitations that remain to beaddressed by future research